Global Passport Analysis GEOG:3540

Passport Index, 2020

This map is a bivariate choropleth displaying the relationship between the passport mobility scores (referred to as passport viability) and government stability ranking of each country. The data seems to overwhelmingly confirm the existence of a strong correlation between passport viability and governmental stability. Citizens from more stable nations are seen as less of a threat by foreign governments, and will be more readily allowed to travel visa-free or given visas on arrival by more countries.

Democracy Duration, 2015

In the Observable notebook linked above, a graduated symbol map was used to visualize length of democracy in countries for comparison with passport viability and political stability. It was observed that countries in Europe generally had the longest lengths of democratic government (90+ years) paired with high passport viability and political stability. Countries in Africa have generally had democracies for 40-60 years. This is interesting in comparison to their passport viability and political stability, which tends to be the lowest globally. The Americas and Asia were less consistent. South America tended to have the lowest lengths of democracies globally, but they have fairly high passport viability. North American countries have long lengths of democracy (even 200+ for the United States) and high passport viability, similar to Europe. Asian countries varied, but they have typically had democracy for 90+ years and moderate passport viability/political stability.

Democracy Duration and Democratic Breakdowns, 2015

This application allows further exploration of democracy data. Length of democracy was mapped again, but this time it was mapped with a choropleth technique. This allows for more clear viewing of European and South American countries. Proportional symbols are also displayed to show the number of democratic breakdowns. This is interesting to use as another comparison to passport viability and political stability. In terms of trends of democratic breakdowns, countries in South America tended to have the highest proportion. This is interesting, because these countries still have high passport viability and political stability. However, breakdowns were still fairly consistent across other continents. Eastern European countries tended to have at least one breakdown of democratic government, and their passport viability and political stability was lower than the rest of Europe. While Africa and Asia had similar incidences of democratic breakdowns, Asia tends to have higher passport viability.