Passports provide a gateway for destinations. With 2024 underway, the Henley Passport Index sheds light on the major participants in the international economy as well as the effects and aftereffects of the pandemic and wars.
It also offers us a preview of what’s to come. It rates all 199 worldwide passports based on the number of destinations its holders may visit without a prior visa, using proprietary data from the International Air Transport Association, the largest travel database in the world, bolstered by thorough internal research.
For the first time in five years, Singapore surpassed Japan to grab the top place in the passport ranking. Together with Singapore and a resurgent Japan, four EU members—France, Germany, Italy, and Spain—have the strongest passports in the world, allowing their people to travel an astounding 194 out of 227 locations worldwide without a visa.
Asia and Europe continue to lead the index. Afghanistan, which is ranked 104th and allows visa-free travel to just 28 places, is at the bottom of the index, just behind Syria and Iraq.
Here are the top ten most powerful passports:
France: 194
Germany: 194
Spain: 194
Italy: 194
Japan: 194
Singapore: 194
South Korea: 193
Finland: 193
Sweden: 193
Austria: 192
Denmark: 192
Netherlands: 192
Ireland: 192
Luxembourg: 191
Portugal: 191
United Kingdom: 191
Norway: 191
Belgium: 191
Greece: 190
Malta: 190
Switzerland: 190
Czechia: 189
Australia: 189
New Zealand: 189
Poland: 189
United States: 188
Canada: 188
Hungary: 188
Lithuania: 187
Estonia: 187
Latvia: 186
Slovakia: 186
Slovenia: 186
Iceland: 185
