Henley & Partners has revealed its ranking for the most (and least) powerful passports in 2024. It is the original ranking of all the worldโs passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa, based on data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
1. Singapore takes back sole first spot
Singapore and Japan broke away from the group of six countries that shared top spot last year to secure gold and silver, respectively. Singapore reclaimed its crown as the most powerful passport in the world with visa-free access to 195 out of 227 destinations worldwide, leaving Japan in the runner-up spot with a score of 193 but still ahead of the rest after it regained visa-free access to neighbouring China for the first time since the Covid lockdowns.
Several EU member states โ France, Germany, Italy and Spain โ dropped two places in the ranking to 3rd position, and are joined by Finland and South Korea, which each lost a place over the past 12 months and now have access to 192 destinations with no prior visa required. A seven-nation EU cohort, all with visa-free access to 191 destinations โ Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden โ share 4th place, while five countries โ Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK โ came in 5th with 190 visa-free destinations.
The rest of the indexโs Top 10 is largely dominated by European countries, except for Australia (6th place with 189 destinations), Canada (7th place with 188 destinations), the US (9th place with 186 destinations) and the UAE, the first and only Arab state to ever make it into the upper echelons of the rankings. The UAE is one of the biggest climbers on the index over the past decade, having secured access to an additional 72 destinations since 2015, enabling it to climb 32 places to 10th spot with visa-free access to 185 destinations worldwide.
On the other end of the mobility spectrum, Afghanistan remains firmly entrenched at the bottom of the ranking, having lost visa-free access to a further two destinations over the past year, creating the largest mobility gap in the indexโs 19-year history, with Singaporeans able to travel to 169 more destinations visa-free than Afghan passport holders.
โThe very notion of citizenship and its birthright lottery needs a fundamental rethink as temperatures rise, natural disasters become more frequent and severe, displacing communities and rendering their environments uninhabitable,” said Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, Henley & Partners Chairman and inventor of the passport index concept. “Simultaneously, political instability and armed conflicts in various regions force countless people to flee their homes in search of safety and refuge. The need to introduce Free Global Cities to harness the untapped potential of displaced people and other migrants, transforming them from victims of circumstance into architects of their own futures has never been more pressing or apparent.”
2. Biggest climbers and droppers
Only 22 of the worldโs 199 passports have fallen down the Henley Passport Index ranking over the past decade. The US is the second-biggest faller between 2015 and 2025, after Venezuela, plummeting seven places from 2nd to its current 9th position. Vanuatu is the third-biggest faller, losing six places from 48th to 54th position, followed by the British passport, which was top of the index in 2015 but now sits in 5th place. Completing the “Top 5 losers” list is Canada, which has dropped three ranks over the past decade from 4th to its current 7th place.
In contrast, China is among the biggest climbers over the past decade, ascending from 94th place in 2015 to 60th in 2025, with its visa-free score increasing by 40 destinations in that time. And in terms of its openness to other nations, China has also risen on the Henley Openness Index, which ranks all 199 countries and territories worldwide according to the number of nationalities they permit entry to without a prior visa. China granted visa-free access to a further 29 countries over the past year alone and now sits in 80th position, granting visa-free entry to a total of 58 nations as the new year commences, compared to the USA, which ranks 84th and allows just 46 other countries access without a prior visa.
3. Most powerful passports in 2025
- Singapore ๐ธ๐ฌ (access to 195 destinations)
- Japan ๐ฏ๐ต (193)
- Finland ๐ซ๐ฎ, France ๐ซ๐ท, Germany ๐ฉ๐ช, Italy ๐ฎ๐น, South Korea ๐ฐ๐ท, Spain ๐ช๐ธ (192)
- Austria ๐ฆ๐น, Denmark ๐ฉ๐ฐ, Ireland ๐ฎ๐ช, Luxembourg ๐ฑ๐บ, Netherlands ๐ณ๐ฑ, Norway ๐ณ๐ด, Sweden ๐ธ๐ช (191)
- Belgium ๐ง๐ช, New Zealand ๐ณ๐ฟ, Portugal ๐ต๐น, Switzerland ๐จ๐ญ, UK ๐ฌ๐ง (190)
- Australia ๐ฆ๐บ, Greece ๐ฌ๐ท (189)
- Canada ๐จ๐ฆ, Malta ๐ฒ๐น, Poland ๐ต๐ฑ (188)
- Czechia ๐จ๐ฟ, Hungary ๐ญ๐บ (187)
- Estonia ๐ช๐ช, USA ๐บ๐ธ (186)
- Latvia ๐ฑ๐ป, Lithuania ๐ฑ๐น, Slovenia ๐ธ๐ฎ, UAE ๐ฆ๐ช (185)
4. Least powerful passports in 2025
- Afghanistan ๐ฆ๐ซ (26)
- Syria ๐ธ๐พ (27)
- Iraq ๐ฎ๐ถ (31)
- Yemen ๐พ๐ช, Pakistan ๐ต๐ฐ (33)
- Somalia ๐ธ๐ด (35)
- Nepal ๐ณ๐ต (39)
- Bangladesh ๐ง๐ฉ, Libya ๐ฑ๐พ, Palestinian Territory ๐ต๐ธ (40)
- North Korea ๐ฐ๐ต (41)
- Eritrea ๐ช๐ท (42)
- Sudan ๐ธ๐ฉ (43)