2024: The World’s Most/ Least Powerful Passports

Lets take a look at the newly released ranking of the world’s most powerful passports.

Singapore breaks away from the peloton of six countries that shared the top spot on the Henley Passport Index as we entered the new year, reclaiming its title as the world’s most powerful passport in the latest ranking. The city-state also sets a new record score, with its citizens now enjoying access to 195 travel destinations out of 227 around the world visa-free.

France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain drop to joint-2nd place, each with visa-free access to 192 destinations, and an unprecedented seven-nation cohort, each with access to 191 destinations without a prior visa — Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden — now sit in 3rd place on the ranking, which is based on exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The UK hangs onto 4th place along with Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland, despite its visa-free destination score falling to 190. The US, on the other hand, continues its now decade-long slide down the index, dropping down to 8th spot, with access to just 186 destinations visa-free. Former passport powerhouses, the UK and the US jointly held 1st place on the index 10 years ago in 2014.

At the other end of the scale, the situation is very different. For passport holders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria for example, travel is more restrictive to most countries. Afghanistan remains firmly entrenched as the world’s weakest passport, losing access to yet another destination over the past six months, leaving its citizens with access to only 26 countries visa-free — the lowest score ever recorded in history of the 19-year-old index. The situation in Syria and Iraq isn’t much better, at 28 and 31 destinations, respectively.

The UAE makes it into the Top 10 for the first time, having added an impressive 152 destinations since the index’s inception in 2006 to achieve its current visa-free score of 185, and rising a remarkable 53 places in the ranking from 62nd to 9th position in the process.
China is among the Top 10 countries that has climbed the highest in the ranking over the past decade. Since 2014, China has jumped up 24 places from 83rd to 59th (with access to 85 destinations visa-free).

The biggest faller over the last decade is Venezuela, which has plunged 17 places from 25th to 42nd on the Henley Passport Index.

The two graphs show the countries that have climbed the highest in the Henley Passport Index rankings over the past decade, as well as those that have fallen most sharply over that period.

The Henley Passport Index uses data from the International Air Transport Authority to cross-check 199 passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. It is updated in real time throughout the year, as and when visa policy changes come into effect. For each travel destination, if no visa is required or a visa-on-arrival is available, the passport in question receives a score of 1. If a visa or other form of government approval is required before departure, the passport receives a score of 0. The scores for each passport are added up to produce its total score (i.e. the number of destinations to which it grants access without a prior visa). This is then ranked against all other passports to create the index.

The Henley Passport Index ranks 199 passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.

How does your country score?

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