Henley Passport Index

The Henley Passport Index is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom allowed by those countries' ordinary passports for their citizens. It was launched in 2005 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index and was updated to Henley Passport Index in January 2018.
The index annually ranks 199 passports of the world by the number of countries that their holders can travel to without requiring a visa. The number of countries that a specific passport can access becomes its visa-free "score". The data is obtained from the International Air Transport Association 's Timatic documentation requirements database.

WWW henleyglobal.com/passport...

Definition of the index

The Henley Passport index ranks passports according to the number of destinations that can be reached using a particular country's ordinary passport without the need of a prior visa. The survey ranks 199 passports against 227 destination countries, territories, and micro-states.
The IATA maintains a database of travel information worldwide and all destinations that are in the IATA database are considered by the index. However, because not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports ranked than destinations about which queries are made.

Method

To determine the score for each country or territory, its passport is checked against the IATA Timatic database in several steps:

Each of the 199 passports on the list is checked against all 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database. The score is updated throughout the year.
Each query must satisfy certain conditions:
* passport is issued in the country of nationality
* passport holder is an adult citizen of the country that issued the passport and a lone traveller, not part of a tourist group
* entry is sought for tourism or business
* the stay is a minimum of three days
Further conditions:
* queries are made only for holders of normal passports, not diplomatic, service, emergency, or temporary passports; and other travel documents are disregarded
* passport holders need not meet any complex requirements for entry
* passport holders have all necessary vaccinations and certificates
* passport holders are arriving at and departing from the same airport
* passport holders are seeking a short stay rather than a transit
* the port of entry is a major city or capital, in cases where this is required
* requirements by the destination country or territory regarding a particular length of validity of passports are disregarded
* passport holders meet all basic requirements for entry
* advance passenger information and advance approval to board are not considered to be a visa requirement or travel restriction, neither is the requirement to pay airport tax
If no visa is required for passport holders from a particular country or territory to enter the destination, then that passport scores 1. The passport also scores 1 if a visa on arrival, a visitor's permit, or an automatically approved electronic travel authority can be obtained because they do not require manual pre-departure government approval, perhaps because of specific visa-waiver programs in place.
Where visas are needed, or where passport holders must get manually government-approved electronic visas before departure, a score of 0 is given. If passport holders must get government approval before leaving in order to obtain a visa on arrival, this also scores 0.
The score for each passport is then totalled by adding up its scores for all destinations.
The index ignores temporary restrictions or airspace closures.
It considers mobility data based on national GDPs and the percentage of global wealth that the country's passport could provide access to.

Rankings

2025 Henley Passport Index

According to 2025 Henley Passport Index, Singapore retains the top spot as the world's most powerful passport, giving visa-free access to 195 out of the 227 destinations worldwide to its holders. Japan and South Korea are second in the ranking, while the third spot is shared by Denmark, Ireland, Finland, France, Germany, Italy and Spain. The Afghan passport is ranked last in the index making it the least powerful passport, which gives its holders visa-free access to 26 countries. The South African passport is ranked in the top 50 after a decade, rising by 10% between 2024 and 2025.

2025 rank	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1		193
2		190
3		189
3		189
3		189
3		189
3		189
3		189
3		189
3		189
4		188
4		188
4		188
4		188
4		188
4		188
4		188
5		187
5		187
5		187
6		186
6		186
6		186
7		185
7		185
7		185
7		185
7		185
8		184
8		184
8		184
8		184
9		183
9		183
10		182
10		182
10		182
11		180
12		178
12		178
13		177
13		177
14		175
15		172
15		172
16		171
16		171
17		170
17		168
18		164
19		163
20		159
21		158
22		157
22		157
22		157
23		156
24		155
25		153
26		151
26		151
27		150
28		149
29		148
29		148
30		147
30		147
31		143
31		143
32		141
32		141
33		140
34		136
35		135
36		134
36		134
37		133
38		131
38		131
39		129
40		128
40		128
40		128
40		128
41		124
41		124
41		124
41		124
42		123
42		123
43		122
43		122
44		116
44		116
45		107
46		106
47		102
48		99
49		97
50		95
51		94
52		92
53		90
54		89
54		89
54		89
55		88
55		88
56		87
57		86
58		85
58		85
59		82
60		81
60		81
61		80
62		79
62		79
62		79
62		79
63		77
64		76
65		75
65		75
65		75
66		73
67		72
68		71
68		71
69		70
69		70
70		69
70		69
71		68
71		68
72		67
73		66
74		65
74		65
75		64
75		64
75		64
75		64
76		63
77		62
77		62
78		61
79		60
79		60
79		60
80		59
80		59
81		59
81		58
81		58
82		57
82		57
82		57
83		55
83		55
83		55
83		55
84		54
85		53
85		53
85		53
85		53
86		52
86		52
86		52
87		51
87		51
88		50
88		50
88		50
88		50
89		49
89		49
90		46
90		46
91		45
91		45
91		45
92		44
92		44
93		43
93		43
94		42
95		41
96		40
96		40
97		39
97		39
98		35
99		33
99		33
100		31
101		29
102		26

2024 Henley Passport Index

As of 16 July 2024, the Singaporean passport offers holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 195 countries and territories, followed by the Japanese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish passports offer holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 193 countries followed by the Austrian, Finnish, Irish, Luxembourgish, Dutch, South Korean and Swedish passports, each offering 192 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to its holders. These rankings were subsequently followed by the Belgian, Danish, New Zealand, Norwegian, Swiss, and British passports, each offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to 191 countries and territories. While the 2024 Henley Passport Index shows a worldwide improvement in access to visa-free travel, the gap between the top and the bottom ranked countries has widened.
Asian countries like Japan and Singapore have dominated the top position in the Index for the last five years.
The Afghan passport has once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 28 destinations visa-free. This was followed by the Syrian passport at 29 destinations, the Iraqi passport at 31 destinations and the Pakistani and Yemeni passports at 34 destinations. Among African countries, the Somali passport is the weakest passport according to the index.

2024 rank	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1		195
2		193
2		193
2		193
2		193
2		193
3		192
3		192
3		192
3		192
3		192
3		192
3		192
4		191
4		191
4		191
4		191
4		191
4		191
5		190
5		190
5		190
6		188
6		188
7		187
7		187
7		187
8		186
9		185
9		185
9		185
10		184
10		184
10		184
10		184
11		183
12		182
12		182
13		178
13		178
14		177
14		177
15		175
16		172
16		172
17		171
17		171
18		170
18		170
19		166
20		165
21		161
22		159
23		157
23		157
23		157
24		156
25		155
26		153
27		151
27		151
28		150
29		149
30		148
30		148
31		147
31		147
32		143
32		143
33		141
33		141
34		140
35		136
36		135
37		134
37		134
38		133
39		131
39		131
40		129
41		128
41		128
41		128
41		128
42		124
42		124
42		124
42		124
43		123
43		123
44		122
44		122
45		116
45		116
46		107
47		106
48		102
49		101
50		97
51		95
52		94
53		92
54		90
55		89
55		89
55		89
56		88
56		88
57		87
58		86
59		85
59		85
60		82
61		81
61		81
62		80
63		79
63		79
63		79
63		79
64		77
65		76
66		75
66		75
66		75
67		73
68		72
69		71
69		71
70		70
70		70
71		69
71		69
72		68
72		68
73		67
74		66
75		65
75		65
76		64
76		64
76		64
76		64
77		63
78		62
78		62
79		61
80		60
80		60
80		60
81		59
81		59
82		58
82		58
82		58
83		57
83		57
83		57
84		55
84		55
84		55
84		55
85		54
86		53
86		53
86		53
86		53
87		52
87		52
87		52
88		51
88		51
89		50
89		50
89		50
89		50
90		49
90		49
91		46
91		46
92		45
92		45
92		45
93		44
93		44
94		43
94		43
95		42
96		41
97		40
97		40
98		39
98		39
99		35
100		33
100		33
101		31
102		29
103		26

2023

As of 8 December 2023, the Singaporean passport offered holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 195 countries and territories, followed by the Japanese with 193 and the Finnish, French, German, Italian, South Korean, Spanish and Swedish passports, each offering 190 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to its holders. These rankings were subsequently followed by the Austrian, Danish, Luxembourgeois and British passports, each offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to 189 countries and territories.
An Afghan passport had once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 27 destinations visa-free. This was followed by the Iraqi passport at 29 destinations and the Syrian passport at 30 destinations.

2023
rank

Passport issuing country

Visa-free
destinations

Japan

2022

As of 2022, a Japanese passport offered its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 193 countries and territories, with South Korean and Singapore passports each offering 192 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders. An American passport offered its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 186 countries and territories, with the British passport offering 187 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders. Canadian and Australian passports each offered their holders visa-free access to 185 countries and territories.
An Afghan passport had once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 27 destinations visa-free.

2022
rank

Passport issuing country

Visa-free
destinations

Japan

2006–2015

A number of Asian and European countries are notable for their stability over the past decade, and Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and Sweden all remain in exactly the same position as 10 years before. The 'Top 10s' were almost identical, with 30 countries in 2015, compared to 26 a decade before. While Liechtenstein dropped, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, and South Korea all made it into the top 10.
Taiwan, Albania, the United Arab Emirates, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia all moved up more than 20 places in the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index over the period, while the biggest drops were experienced by Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Bolivia.

Older rankings

In the table below, the "access" columns denote the number of visa-free destinations for holders of that passport.
Unless indicated otherwise, the data in this table is taken from these sources.

Country	2020 rank	2020 access	2019 rank	2010 rank	2006 rank
Japan Books 1 Wuthering Heights 51,239 2 Bridgerton (novel series) 27,933 3 Tales of Dunk and Egg 16,018 4 Project Hail Mary 13,776 5 Hyperion (Simmons novel) 9,310 6 A Song of Ice and Fire 8,076 7 On the Way to the Wedding 7,452 8 Lord of the Flies 7,260 9 Romancing Mister Bridgerton 6,968 10 Heat 2 6,950 Films 1 Scream 7 178,795 2 XXX (film series) 63,276 3 One Battle After Another 43,591 4 Wuthering Heights (2026 film) 43,123 5 Marty Supreme 37,657 6 XXX: Return of Xander Cage 34,041 7 The Housemaid (2025 film) 32,907 8 Scary Movie 6 31,605 9 Sinners (2025 film) 29,737 10 Dhurandhar 28,588 Programming Languages 1 C (programming language) 3,715 2 Python (programming language) 3,243 3 Scratch (programming language) 2,154 4 JavaScript 1,675 5 C++ 1,581 6 COBOL 1,534 7 R (programming language) 1,388 8 Rust (programming language) 1,325 9 Go (programming language) 1,294 10 Java (programming language) 1,246 TV Series 1 Bridgerton 143,887 2 A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms (TV series) 67,064 3 Love Story (2026 TV series) 54,822 4 Paradise (2025 TV series) 51,319 5 The Night Agent 42,380 6 The Pitt 39,540 7 Monarch: Legacy of Monsters 35,833 8 Scrubs (TV series) 34,448 9 56 Days 30,127 10 Heated Rivalry 27,360 Video Games 1 Resident Evil Requiem 161,010 2 Wordle 22,248 3 Pokémon (video game series) 20,931 4 Resident Evil Village 14,828 5 Marathon (2026 video game) 12,511 6 Poppy Playtime 11,287 7 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard 11,135 8 Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen 10,553 9 Roblox 10,495 10 Minecraft 9,660 © 2026 OWIKI.org. Content is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Status: ONLINE Version: 1.05