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.^[3] It was launched in 2005 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index^[4] and was updated to Henley Passport Index in January 2018.^[5]

The index annually ranks 199 passports of the world by the number of countries that their holders can travel to without requiring a visa.^[6] 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 (IATA)'s^[7] Timatic documentation requirements database.^[4][8]

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 ("visa-free").^[9][10][11] The survey ranks 199 passports against 227 destination^[12] countries, territories, and micro-states.^[13][14][15]

The IATA maintains a database of travel information worldwide and all destinations that are in the IATA database are considered by the index.^[16] However, because not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports ranked than destinations about which queries are made.^[17]

To determine the score for each country or territory,^[18] its passport is checked against the IATA Timatic database in several steps:

1. 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.^[19]
2. 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
3. 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 (for example, possessing a government-issued letter, translations, or empty pages)
   • 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 (for example, holding a hotel reservation or having proof of sufficient funds or return tickets)
   • 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
4. 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 (ETA) can be obtained because they do not require manual pre-departure government approval, perhaps because of specific visa-waiver programs in place.^[20]
5. Where visas are needed, or where passport holders must get manually government-approved electronic visas (e-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.^[20]
6. The score for each passport is then totalled by adding up its scores for all destinations.^[20]
7. The index ignores temporary restrictions or airspace closures.^[21]
8. It considers mobility data based on national GDPs and the percentage of global wealth that the country's passport could provide access to.^[22]

As of 16 July 2024, the Singaporean passport offers holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 195 countries^[23] and territories,^[24] followed by the Japanese, French, German, Italian, and Spanish passports offer holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 192 countries followed by the Austrian, Finnish, Irish, Luxembourgish, Dutch, South Korean and Swedish passports, each offering 191 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to its holders.^[25] 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 190 countries and territories.^[26] The 2024 Henley Passport Index shows a worldwide improvement in the access to visa-free travel. Also the gap between the top and the bottom ranked countries has widened.^[27]

Asian countries like Japan and Singapore have dominated the top position in the Index for the last five years.^[28]

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.^[29][30] This was followed by the Syrian passport at 29 destinations, the Iraqi passport at 31 destinations and the Pakistani and Yemini passports at 34 destinations. Among African countries, the Somali passport is the weakest passport according to the index.^[31]

2024 rank	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1	Singapore	195
2	Italy	192
	Germany	192
	France	192
	Japan	192
	Spain	192
3	Austria	191
	Finland	191
	Ireland	191
	Luxembourg	191
	Netherlands	191
	South Korea	191
	Sweden	191
4	Belgium	190
	Denmark	190
	New Zealand	190
	Norway	190
	Switzerland	190
	United Kingdom	190
5	Australia	189
	Czech Republic	189
	Portugal	189
6	Greece	188
	Poland	188
7	Canada	187
	Hungary	187
	Malta	187
8	United States	186
9	Estonia	185
	Lithuania	185
	United Arab Emirates	185
10	Iceland	184
	Latvia	184
	Slovakia	184
	Slovenia	184
11	Croatia	183
12	Liechtenstein	182
	Malaysia	182
13	Cyprus	178
	Monaco	178
14	Bulgaria	177
	Romania	177
15	Chile	175
16	San Marino	172
	Argentina	172
17	Andorra	171
	Brazil	171
18	Hong Kong	170
	Israel	170
19	Brunei	166
20	Barbados	165
21	Bahamas	161
22	Mexico	159
23	Saint Kitts and Nevis	157
	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	157
	Uruguay	157
24	Seychelles	156
25	Vatican City	155
26	Antigua and Barbuda	153
27	Costa Rica	151
	Trinidad and Tobago	151
28	Mauritius	150
29	Panama	149
30	Saint Lucia	148
	Ukraine	148
31	Grenada	147
	Paraguay	147
32	Dominica	143
	Macau	143
33	Peru	141
	Taiwan	141
34	Serbia	140
35	El Salvador	136
36	Guatemala	135
37	Colombia	134
	Solomon Islands	134
38	Honduras	133
39	Samoa	131
	Tonga	131
40	Marshall Islands	129
41	Montenegro	128
	Nicaragua	128
	North Macedonia	128
	Tuvalu	128
42	Kiribati	124
	Micronesia	124
	Palau	124
	Venezuela	124
43	Albania	123
	Bosnia and Herzegovina	123
44	Georgia	122
	Moldova	122
45	Russia	116
	Turkey	116
46	Qatar	107
47	South Africa	106
48	Belize	102
49	Kuwait	99
50	East Timor	97
100	Ecuador	95
101	Maldives	94
102	Vanuatu	92
103	Fiji	90
104	Guyana	89
	Jamaica	89
	Nauru	89
107	Botswana	88
	Saudi Arabia	88
109	Bahrain	87
110	Oman	86
111	China	85
	Papua New Guinea	85
113	Thailand	82
114	Belarus	81
	Namibia	81
116	Bolivia	80
117	Kosovo	79
	Lesotho	79
	Suriname	79
120	Eswatini	77
	Kazakhstan	77
122	Indonesia	76
123	Dominican Republic	75
	Kenya	75
	Malawi	75
126	Tanzania	73
127	Morocco	72
128	Azerbaijan	71
	Gambia	71
130	Uganda	70
	Zambia	70
132	Cape Verde	69
	Tunisia	69
134	Armenia	68
	Ghana	68
136	Philippines	67
137	Sierra Leone	66
138	Rwanda	65
	Zimbabwe	65
140	Benin	64
	Kyrgyzstan	64
	Mongolia	64
	Mozambique	64
144	São Tomé and Príncipe	63
145	Cuba	62
	Uzbekistan	62
147	Togo	61
148	Burkina Faso	60
	Gabon	60
	Madagascar	60
151	Ivory Coast	59
	Guinea	59
153	India	58
	Senegal	58
	Tajikistan	58
156	Equatorial Guinea	57
	Mauritania	57
	Niger	57
159	Algeria	55
	Guinea-Bissau	55
	Jordan	55
	Mali	55
163	Comoros	54
164	Cambodia	53
	Central African Republic	53
	Chad	53
	Haiti	53
168	Angola	52
	Bhutan	52
	Egypt	52
171	Liberia	51
	Vietnam	51
173	Burundi	50
	Cameroon	50
	Congo	50
	Turkmenistan	50
177	Djibouti	49
	Laos	49
179	DR Congo	46
	Ethiopia	46
181	Lebanon	45
	Myanmar	45
	Nigeria	45
184	South Sudan	44
	Sri Lanka	44
186	Iran	43
	Sudan	43
97	Eritrea	42
98	North Korea	41
99	Bangladesh	40
	Palestinian Authority	40
100	Libya	39
	Nepal	39
101	Somalia	35
102	Pakistan	33
	Yemen	33
103	Iraq	31
104	Syria	28
105	Afghanistan	26

As of 8 December 2023, the Singaporean passport offered holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 195 countries^[23] and territories,^[24] 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, Irish, 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.^[29][32] This was followed by the Iraqi passport at 29 destinations and the Syrian passport at 30 destinations.^[33]

2023 rank	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1	Japan	193
2	Singapore	192
3	Austria	190
	Finland	190
	France	190
	Germany	190
	Italy	190
	South Korea	190
	Spain	190
	Sweden	190
4	Denmark	189
	Ireland	189
	Luxembourg	189
	Netherlands	189
	United Kingdom	189
5	Belgium	188
	Malta	188
	Portugal	188
	Norway	188
6	Czech Republic	187
	New Zealand	187
	Poland	187
	Switzerland	187
7	Australia	186
	Canada	186
	Greece	186
	Hungary	186
	United States	186
8	Lithuania	185
9	Latvia	184
	Slovakia	184
	Slovenia	184
10	Estonia	183
11	Iceland	182
	Malaysia	182
13	Cyprus	180
	Liechtenstein	180
14	United Arab Emirates	179
15	Bulgaria	177
	Romania	177
16	Croatia	176
	Monaco	176
17	Chile	175
18	Argentina	173
19	San Marino	172
20	Brazil	171
19	Andorra	170
	Hong Kong	170
20	Brunei	166
21	Barbados	163
22	Israel	159
	Mexico	159
23	Bahamas	156
24	Seychelles	155
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	155
25	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	154
	Vatican City	154
26	Uruguay	153
27	Costa Rica	151
28	Antigua and Barbuda	150
	Trinidad and Tobago	150
29	Mauritius	148
30	Grenada	147
	Saint Lucia	147
	Ukraine	150
31	Macau	144
	Panama	144
	Taiwan	144
32	Dominica	143
	Paraguay	143
33	Peru	136
34	Serbia	137
35	Guatemala	136
36	Honduras	134
37	Georgia	132
	Colombia	132
	El Salvador	132
	Solomon Islands	132
38	Samoa	131
39	Tonga	130
40	Nicaragua	127
	Tuvalu	127
	Venezuela	127
41	North Macedonia	125
42	Montenegro	124
44	Albania	123
	Kiribati	123
45	Marshall Islands	122
46	Moldova	120
47	Palau	119
48	Bosnia and Herzegovina	119
49	Micronesia	116
51	Russia	118
52	Turkey	112
53	Belize	104
54	Qatar	103
55	South Africa	102
56	Vanuatu	101
57	Kuwait	98
58	East Timor	94
59	Ecuador	92
60	Maldives	91
61	Nauru	89
62	Fiji	88
63	Bahrain	87
	Botswana	87
64	Guyana	86
	Jamaica	86
65	Saudi Arabia	83
66	Oman	82
	Papua New Guinea	82
67	China	80
	Thailand	80
68	Belarus	79
69	Bolivia	78
	Lesotho	78
	Namibia	78
70	Suriname	77
71	Kazakhstan	76
72	Indonesia	75
	Eswatini	75
73	Malawi	74
74	Kenya	73
75	Tanzania	72
76	Kosovo	71
	Tunisia	70
	Zambia	70
77	Azerbaijan	69
	Dominican Republic	69
	Gambia	69
78	Uganda	67
79	Philippines	66
	Zimbabwe	66
80	Armenia	65
	Cape Verde	65
	Morocco	65
	Sierra Leone	65
81	Ghana	63
	Kyrgyzstan	63
82	Cuba	62
83	Mongolia	61
	Mozambique	61
	Rwanda	61
84	Benin	60
	India	60
85	São Tomé and Príncipe	59
	Tajikistan	59
	Uzbekistan	59
86	Mauritania	58
87	Burkina Faso	57
88	Gabon	56
	Ivory Coast	56
	Senegal	56
89	Equatorial Guinea	55
	Guinea	55
	Madagascar	55
	Vietnam	55
90	Algeria	54
	Cambodia	54
	Togo	54
91	Comoros	53
	Jordan	53
	Mali	53
	Niger	53
92	Bhutan	52
	Central African Republic	52
	Chad	52
	Egypt	52
	Guinea-Bissau	52
	Turkmenistan	52
93	Angola	50
	Burundi	50
	Cameroon	50
	Laos	50
94	Congo	49
	Liberia	49
95	Djibouti	48
	Haiti	48
96	Myanmar	47
97	Ethiopia	46
98	Eritrea	45
	Nigeria	45
	South Sudan	45
99	Iran	44
100	DR Congo	42
	Sudan	42
101	Lebanon	41
102	Libya	40
	North Korea	40
	Sri Lanka	40
103	Bangladesh	39
104	Palestine	38
105	Nepal	36
106	Somalia	35
107	Yemen	34
108	Pakistan	33
109	Syria	30
110	Iraq	29
111	Afghanistan	27

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.^[34][35] 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.^[36]

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.^[37]

2022 rank[38]	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1	Japan	193
2	Singapore	192
	South Korea	192
3	Germany	190
	Spain	190
4	Finland	189
	Italy	189
	Luxembourg	189
5	Austria	188
	Denmark	188
	Netherlands	188
	Sweden	188
6	France	187
	Ireland	187
	Portugal	187
	United Kingdom	187
7	Belgium	186
	New Zealand	186
	Norway	186
	Switzerland	186
	United States	186
8	Australia	185
	Canada	185
	Czech Republic	185
	Greece	185
	Malta	185
9	Hungary	183
10	Lithuania	182
	Poland	182
	Slovakia	182
11	Estonia	181
	Latvia	181
	Slovenia	181
12	Iceland	180
13	Malaysia	179
14	Liechtenstein	178
15	Cyprus	176
	United Arab Emirates	176
16	Chile	174
	Monaco	174
	Romania	174
17	Bulgaria	173
	Croatia	173
18	Hong Kong	171
19	Argentina	170
	Brazil	170
20	San Marino	169
21	Andorra	168
22	Brunei	166
23	Barbados	163
24	Israel	159
	Mexico	159
25	Saint Kitts and Nevis	157
26	Bahamas	155
27	Vatican City	154
28	Seychelles	153
	Uruguay	153
29	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	152
30	Antigua and Barbuda	151
	Trinidad and Tobago	151
31	Costa Rica	150
32	Saint Lucia	147
33	Grenada	146
	Mauritius	146
34	Dominica	145
	Taiwan	145
35	Macau	144
	Ukraine	144
36	Panama	143
37	Paraguay	142
38	Peru	136
	Serbia	136
39	El Salvador	134
40	Guatemala	133
	Honduras	133
41	Colombia	132
	Samoa	132
	Solomon Islands	132
42	Tonga	130
	Venezuela	129
43	Nicaragua	128
	Tuvalu	128
44	North Macedonia	125
45	Kiribati	124
	Montenegro	124
46	Marshall Islands	123
47	Moldova	121
48	Palau	120
49	Russia	119
50	Bosnia and Herzegovina	118
	Micronesia	118
51	Georgia	116
52	Albania	115
53	Turkey	110
54	South Africa	105
55	Belize	103
56	Qatar	99
57	Vanuatu	98
58	Kuwait	96
59	East Timor	94
60	Ecuador	92
61	Nauru	90
62	Fiji	89
	Maldives	89
63	Guyana	88
64	Botswana	87
	Jamaica	87
65	Bahrain	86
66	Papua New Guinea	83
67	Oman	81
	Saudi Arabia	81
68	Bolivia	80
	China	80
69	Namibia	79
	Thailand	79
70	Belarus	78
71	Lesotho	77
	Suriname	77
72	Kazakhstan	76
73	Eswatini	75
74	Malawi	74
75	Indonesia	72
	Kenya	72
	Tanzania	72
	Zambia	72
76	Tunisia	71
77	Azerbaijan	70
	Dominican Republic	70
78	Gambia	69
79	Cape Verde	67
	Philippines	67
	Uganda	67
80	Armenia	66
	Zimbabwe	66
81	Cuba	65
	Ghana	65
	Morocco	65
82	Kyrgyzstan	64
	Sierra Leone	64
83	Mozambique	63
84	Benin	62
	Mongolia	62
85	Rwanda	61
	São Tomé and Príncipe	61
86	India	60
	Mauritania	60
	Tajikistan	60
87	Burkina Faso	59
	Uzbekistan	59
88	Gabon	58
89	Ivory Coast	57
	Senegal	57
90	Equatorial Guinea	56
	Madagascar	56
91	Guinea	55
	Mali	55
	Togo	55
	Vietnam	55
92	Bhutan	54
	Cambodia	54
	Chad	54
	Comoros	54
	Niger	54
93	Algeria	53
	Central African Republic	53
	Egypt	53
	Guinea-Bissau	53
	Jordan	53
	Turkmenistan	53
94	Angola	51
	Burundi	51
	Cameroon	51
	Laos	51
95	Liberia	50
96	Congo	49
	Haiti	49
97	Djibouti	48
98	Myanmar	47
99	Ethiopia	46
	Nigeria	46
100	Eritrea	44
	South Sudan	44
101	Iran	43
102	DR Congo	42
	Lebanon	42
	Sri Lanka	42
	Sudan	42
103	Bangladesh	41
	Kosovo	41
	Libya	41
104	North Korea	40
105	Nepal	38
	Palestine	38
106	Somalia	35
107	Yemen	34
108	Pakistan	32
109	Syria	30
110	Iraq	29
111	Afghanistan	27

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 (−32), Liberia (−33), Sierra Leone (−35), and Bolivia (−37).

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.^[38][39]

Country	2020 rank	2020 access	2019 rank	2010 rank	2006 rank
Japan	1	191	1	6	3
Singapore	2	190	1	11	8
Germany	3	189	2	5	2
South Korea	3	189	2	13	11
Finland	4	188	2	4	1
Italy	4	188	3	5	3
Luxembourg	4	188	3	4	3
Spain	4	188	4	6	4
Austria	5	187	5	8	6
Denmark	5	187	3	2	1
France	6	186	4	5	3
Ireland	6	186	6	7	2
Netherlands	6	186	5	5	5
Portugal	6	186	5	8	7
Sweden	6	186	4	3	2
Belgium	7	185	6	6	4
Switzerland	7	185	6	10	4
Norway	7	185	6	7	4
United Kingdom	7	185	6	1	3
United States	7	185	6	7	1
Czech Republic	8	184	7	18	21
Greece	8	184	6	12	9
Malta	8	184	7	15	11
New Zealand	8	184	8	9	6
Australia	9	183	9	9	9
Canada	9	183	6	9	6
Hungary	10	182	10	18	19
Lithuania	11	181	9	19	24
Poland	11	181	13	16	16
Slovakia	11	181	9	17	22
Iceland	12	180	10	13	9
Latvia	12	180	10	20	26
Slovenia	12	180	10	17	17
Estonia	13	179	11	19	26