The Top 10 Most Powerful Passports in the World for 2024
A passport that will allow you to travel across the world without visa requirements is one of the most luxurious assets today. With the right passport in your hand, you’re a step closer to visiting your favorite destination or seeing friends who live abroad.
However, not all passports help their holders to go anywhere they want. While some passports are limiting, others allow access to most countries without additional documents, i.e., visas. Naturally, the most powerful passports offer the most freedom.
The Henley Passport Index (HPI), created by Henley & Partners, is a ranking of the strongest passports. According to it, Singapore’s passports are at the top spot, enabling their holders to enter 195 countries without visa requirements.
The Strength of a Passport
Every year, the Henley Passport Index shows the most powerful passports based on the travel freedom they allow.
As we know, a passport is just the first thing we need to travel. Other things that come to mind are a good suitcase, a credit card with travel rewards, and an adventurous attitude. On the legal front, however, depending on where you’re from - or rather, where your passport is from - the country you want to visit might ask you for a visa.
You can either register for a visa in advance or upon arrival. What’s more, some visas are easy to get - for example, by applying online - while others need to be obtained at a physical embassy, after rigorous and time-consuming checks.
However, some countries have visa agreements that allow travelers from specific countries to visit without a visa. The agreement is between two countries, or an association of them (the EU is one example), and it usually allows citizens to stay in a foreign country without a visa for a specific period.
The HPI passport rank for 2024 shows that the top 10 highest-ranked passports that allow their holders to travel with a passport only, online visa, or visa available on arrival are actually provided by 35 countries.
As mentioned, Japan and Singapore are the best ranked, followed by Germany, South Korea, and Finland. Multiple countries share the same position because their passport holders can visit the same number of countries visa-free.
The Top 10 Passports in the World for 2024:
- Singapore - 195 destinations
- Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Spain - 192 destinations
- Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden - 191 destinations
- Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom - 190 destinations
- Australia and Greece - 189 destinations
- Poland - 188 destinations
- Canada, Czechia, Hungary and Malta - 187 destinations
- United States - 186 destinations
- Estonia, Lithuania, Slovenia and the United Arab Emirates - 185 destinations
- Iceland, Latvia and Slovakia - 184 destinations
The World’s Weakest Passports for Travel Freedom
According to the HPI, Afghanistan has the weakest passport globally, and it is in 106th place. Afghans can enter only 26 countries without visa requirements. It’s followed by Syria, whose passport holders can visit just 27 countries without a visa.
Also at the bottom of the list of the countries with the strongest passport in the world are Iraq with 31, and Yemen and Pakistan with 33 both.
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