According to the 2025 Henley Passport Index, Singapore has the most powerful passport in the world.
The nation-state was one of six countries to top the 2024 list by migration consultancy Henley & Partners, which ranks passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without requiring a visa.
According to the ranking published on Wednesday, Singapore overtook the remaining five countries – Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain and France – by providing citizens with visa-free travel to 195 of 227 destinations in the world.
Japan is in second place with visa-free travel to 193 destinations, while the four European countries that took first place last year, as well as Finland and South Korea, are in third place, each providing passport holders the opportunity to visit 192 destinations without the need for a visa.
The remaining twenty on the list include European countries and New Zealand.
The Henley Passport Index uses data from the International Air Transport Association to rank 199 passports in the world.
According to the index, “visa-free” covers situations where a visa is not required or where easier-to-obtain entry documents are required, such as visas on arrival, residence permits or electronic travel documents.
Climbers and fallers
According to a press release, the United Arab Emirates is one of the “biggest climbers” on the list, having gained visa-free travel to 72 destinations over the past decade, bringing the total to 185 worldwide.
Just behind the United States, citizens can visit 186 places without requiring a visa, according to the ranking.
The United States is one of 22 places where the number of passports has declined in the last 10 years, he said.
“Surprisingly, it is the United States the second largest decline in 2015–2025 after Venezuela, falling seven places from 2nd to the current 9th position,” we read in the release.
It said the number of passports from the UK – which topped the list in 2015 – and Canada had also fallen.
China moved up in the ranking and in 2025 it was in 60th place. Their openness to other countries has also increased significantly – China now allows citizens from 58 destinations to travel visa-free – half of which were added last year – according to Henley openness index.
Bottom of the list
Afghanistan was again rated as having the weakest passport on the list. It came last in terms of providing access to only 26 out of 227 destinations. Its citizens can visit places such as Cambodia, the Maldives, Djibouti, Sri Lanka and Haiti without requiring a visa.
According to Henley & Partners, the difference between the strongest and weakest passports on the list is the largest in the index's 19-year history. It states that Singaporeans can visit 169 more places than Afghans without requiring a visa.
After Afghanistan, the weakest passports on the list are those from Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan, Somalia, Nepal, the Palestinian territories, Libya and Bangladesh, each of which ranks below North Korea, whose citizens can visit 41 destinations around the world, according to data ranking.