This Asian Country Now Has the Strongest Passport in the World

For the past five years, Singapore has dominated the number one spot of the Henley Passport Index, a ranking of the world’s passports in order of the number of destinations their holders can access without obtaining a visa before arrival. The country currently tops the 2024 index, which just released their July edition of the ranking.

Singapore now has the most powerful passport in the world, with visa-free or visa-upon-arrival access to 195 destinations.

Using data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Henley & Partners, a London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm, ranks the passports of 193 United Nations member countries, plus six nonmembers (ROC Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong, Kosovo, Palestinian Territories, and the Vatican). Additionally, it includes territories annexed to other countries—like French Polynesia and the British Virgin Islands—in its list of 227 possible travel destinations that passport holders can access.

Five countries came in joint second place with visa-free access to 194 destinations: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain. Third place is a seven-way tie among Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden, with access to 193 destinations each. (The United States came in eighth with access to 186 destinations—including Türkiye, which dropped its visa requirements for U.S. passport holders at the end of 2023.)

This year’s report shows a continuing trend of upward global mobility. The average number of visa-free destinations travelers can access has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024, according to Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners. The largest climber in the rankings is the United Arab Emirates, which has gone from 55th to 9th place in the past decade.

There’s a wide gap between access offered at the top versus the bottom of the list. Afghanistan is currently last in the rankings, at 107th place, with access to 28 destinations. Syria and Iraq ranked only slightly higher, with access to 29 and 31 destinations, respectively.

2024 strongest passports in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index

According to the Henley Passport Index, 2024’s most powerful passports in the world are:

1. Singapore (195 destinations)
2. France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain (192 destinations)
3. Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden (191 destinations)
4. Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom (190 destinations)
5. Australia, Portugal (189 destinations)
6. Greece, Poland (188 destinations)
7. Canada, Czechia, Hungary, Malta (187 destinations)
8. United States (186 destinations)
9. Estonia, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates (185 destinations)
10. Iceland, Latvia, Slovakia (186 destinations)

Henley & Partners isn’t the only company that indexes the strength of global passports. While the Passport Index by Arton takes into account the same 199 passports as the Henley Index in its rankings, it excludes territories annexed to other countries and updates its rankings in real time, so its list looks slightly different.

2024 strongest passports in the world, according to the Passport Index by Arton Capital

According to Arton Capital, here’s how 2024’s most powerful passports in the world rank:

1. United Arab Emirates (179 destinations)
2. Spain (178 destinations)
3. Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Switzerland (177 destinations)
4. Belgium, Finland, Ireland, Poland, Sweden (176 destinations)
5. Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Norway, Portugal (175 destinations)
6. Czechia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, United Kingdom (174 destinations)
7. Australia, Estonia, Croatia, Japan, Lithuania, Slovakia (173 destinations)
8. Canada, Latvia, Malta, Slovenia, United States (172 destinations)
9. Bulgaria, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Romania (171 destinations)
10. Cyprus (170 destinations)

To see the full rankings, visit henleypassportindex.com and passportindex.com.

This article originally appeared in 2020; it was updated most recently on July 22, 2024, to include current information.