Top 10 African countries with the greatest improvement in visa friendliness from 2016 to 2024

When it comes to hopping between countries in Africa, things are getting a whole lot easier. The latest “Africa Visa Openness Index” shows that visa policies across the continent are loosening up, making it easier for travellers to explore new borders and forge connections.

From 2016 to 2024, 39 countries have seen their scores rise, reflecting the growing trend of easing travel restrictions across Africa.

Over the same period, five countries have had the most improved scores on the AVOI: Benin (moved rank from 31 to 1), Ethiopia (from 46 to 19), Sierra Leone (from 32 to 13), Nigeria (from 25 to 6) and Gambia (from 18 to 1).

Some are now joint top‑ranked countries on the AVOI, a commendable achievement given the individual progress on embracing visa openness that they have made in recent years.

The most striking observation about changes in visa openness since 2016 is that there has been a significant increase in the number of intra‑Africa travel scenarios where African citizens are no longer subject to a visa requirement concerning travel. From 20% in 2016 to 28% in 2024, translating to a 40% increase in visa‑free travel over the past nine years.

The AVOI measures the extent to which African countries are open to visitors from other African countries. For each country, the AVOI calculates the number of African countries whose citizens must obtain a visa before travelling there, the number of countries whose citizens may obtain a visa upon arrival, and the number of countries whose citizens can enter visa-free. Each country is then assigned an AVOI score and ranked accordingly.