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Singapore beats Japan to claim title of world’s most powerful passport based on number of foreign countries held Entry without a visa Or by obtaining a simple visa upon arrival.
As the Asian country city is known for its wealth and Difficulty in obtaining citizenship If a person wasn’t born there, they’ve been scoring high since London-based global citizenship consultancy Henley & Partners began publishing the survey. Henley Passport Index In 2006. However, the exact order can change dramatically as global diplomatic relations shift and countries’ positions change. change their rules Regarding visa-free access.
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According to the new 2024 rankings published this week, Japan, France, Germany, Italy and Spain are tied for second place. Last year, Singapore was second, while a number of European countries were tied for third. France, Germany, Italy and Spain have now moved up to second place, while Austria and Sweden have dropped to third. In between, the People’s Republic of China has opened its doors to 10… Tourist entry without a visa For tourists from all European countries listed above except Sweden.
“Reliable information on accessibility and mobility worldwide”
“The index includes 199 passports and 227 travel destinations, giving users the most comprehensive and reliable information on their global access and mobility,” Henley & Partners writes of the 2024 ranking.
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The United States, which tied for first place with the United Kingdom in 2014, dropped from seventh to eighth amid deteriorating diplomatic relations with a number of countries (while China has also relaxed some of its rules on American visitors, American tourists still need a visa). This year’s ranking puts the U.S. passport between seventh place, held by Canada, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Malta, and ninth place, held by Estonia, Lithuania and the United Arab Emirates.
Other English-speaking countries such as Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom scored higher but did not quite reach the top – fourth place for Britons and New Zealanders and fifth place shared by Australians and Portugal.
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“The global mobility gap is now wider than ever.”
But the general trend has been toward more open borders as long as the person comes from a country with a stable economy and a political situation free of war and other conflicts.
“The average number of destinations that travellers can access visa-free worldwide has nearly doubled 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,” said Christian Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners, in a statement.
Afghans, who have had the lowest passport ranking for more than a decade, can enter just 26 countries without a visa, compared to 195 for Singaporeans. Countries such as Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Pakistan are at the bottom of the rankings, with just 33 countries available without a visa.
In 2016, citizens of Germany (the top passport at the time) could enter 177 countries without a visa. By 2018, that number had risen to 190 countries for the top-ranked country, Japan.
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