Have you ever wondered how powerful your passport is? The latest figures are out for 2024, and Singapore has been recrowned as the world’s most powerful passport.
The Henley Passport Index, compiled by consultancy firm Henley & Partners, is based on exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). According to this data, the primary deciding factor in determining how “powerful” a passport is is how many countries are accessible and visa-free for a nation’s citizens. Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain dropped into second place, with visa-free access to 192 destinations globally. Third place goes to a seven-country tie between Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden. These countries enjoy 191 destinations without a visa.
US passport holders currently have a choice of 186 countries, putting them in eighth place. Across the pond, UK passport holders remain in fourth place, although their visa-free destination score dropped to 190 from 191. It has been a decade since the UK and the US jointly held first place on the index in 2014.
Trends and comments on this year’s report
Commenting on the July 2024 edition of the Henley Global Mobility Report 2024, Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, shared that the global mobility gap is growing exponentially. She commented, “The general trend over the past two decades has been towards greater travel freedom, with the global average number of destinations travelers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024. However, the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access a record-breaking 169 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan.”
Here are the world’s most powerful passports for 2024:
- Singapore (195 locations)
- France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain (192 locations)
- Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, Sweden (191 locations)
- Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, United Kingdom (190 locations)
- Australia, Portugal (189 locations)
- Greece, Poland (188 locations)
- Canada, Czechia, Hungary, Malta (187 locations)
- United States (186 locations)
- Estonia, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates, Iceland, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia (184 locations)
