Brexit: British passport value plunges down global rankings of usefulness

The ‘Quality of Nationality Index’ ranks how helpful it is to be from specific places – and the British just fell a long way down it.

The value of having a British passport has plunged in the wake of Brexit, as UK citizens’ right to travel the world is under threat.

Britain was once among the top passports in the Quality of Nationality Index, which looks to rank how valuable it is to be from a certain place. But it will plunge from 11th place to 30th, after the country decided to leave the EU.

The index has typically privileged European countries – in 2015, all of its top 32 spots were claimed by countries in the EU. They were helped out by the strong economic prospects of those countries, as well as the rights that the union gives for anyone to move freely across the continent.

But the country will now drop from 11th to 30th place, according to Dimitry Kochenov, who created in the index. It was previously beaten only by other rich European countries like Germany and Denmark – but it now places below others including Portugal, Slovenia, Greece and Bulgaria.

Britain previously scored highly on the other measures that the index uses, like peacefulness because of armed conflicts and the degree to which it lets other people settle within it.

The Henley & Partners measure uses two counts, examining the value of citizenship to people who are living inside of the country and to those who are looking to live and work elsewhere.