A hundred and twenty-seven visa-free countries sounds nice - until you look at where the neighbors sit and how far we still are from the ones we envy.

The Macedonian passport held onto 41st place on the global ranking of the most powerful travel documents, with visa-free access to 127 countries. The figure comes from the Henley & Partners index for the second quarter of 2026, which draws on numbers from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). It's a position the official narrative calls „solid” - a word that usually means „not bad, but let's not get into the details.”

And the details are exactly where the story begins. At the top is Singapore with 192 countries, behind it Japan, South Korea and the UAE with 188 each. In our region, the gaps are painfully clear: Slovenia is seventh with 183 countries, Croatia eighth with 182, while Serbia sits at 34th. Macedonia shares 41st place with Montenegro, while Bosnia and Herzegovina is ranked the same but with only 122 destinations. The difference between us and Slovenia isn't just in the numbers - it's in EU membership, which opens doors that stay locked for us.

Here's the point the rankings rarely say out loud. The power of a passport isn't an abstract number to brag about, but a very concrete question: how easily can a Macedonian travel, work, study or just cross a border without humiliating queues outside embassies. Every country above us on the list is one more reminder that the road to the EU - the one we've heard for decades is „almost done” - is still waiting at some counter.

So, 127 countries is a fact, but not a cause for self-congratulation. Serbia is seven places ahead of us, and Slovenia and Croatia are already where we want to be. The question isn't whether our passport is „solid,” but how much longer we'll stay stuck in the middle of the list, watching the neighbors who set off alongside us move ahead, while we stand still counting destinations as consolation.