Singapore still on top in updated Henley Passport Index

The latest update to the Henley Passport Index shows that Singapore reclaimed its crown as the most powerful passport in the world with visa-free access to 195 out of 227 destinations worldwide.

Likewise, Japan remains the runner-up with a score of 193, according to the index which ranks all the world’s 199 passports according to the number of destinations they can access without a prior visa.

The rankings are based on official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

The current index France, Germany, Italy, and Spain fell by two places to third position where they are joined by Finland and South Korea, which each lost a place over the past 12 months and now have access to 192 destinations visa-free. 

Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden are all in fourth place with access to 191 destinations.

In fifth are Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, and the UK with 190 visa-free destinations.

Afghanistan remains firmly entrenched at the bottom of the index, having lost visa-free access to a further two destinations over the past year, creating the largest mobility gap in the index’s 19-year history, with Singaporeans able to travel to 169 more destinations visa-free than Afghan passport holders. 

The rest of the index’s Top 10 is largely dominated by European countries, except for Australia (sixth place with 189 destinations), Canada (seventh place with 188 destinations), the US (ninth place with 186 destinations), and the UAE, one of the biggest climbers over the past decade, having secured an additional 72 destinations since 2015 to put it in tenth place with visa-free access to 185 destinations worldwide.

Climbers and droppers

Only 22 of the world’s 199 passports have fallen down the Henley Passport Index ranking over the past decade. 

Surprisingly, the US is the second-biggest faller between 2015 and 2025 after Venezuela, plummeting seven places from second to its current ninth position. 

Vanuatu is the third-biggest faller, followed by the British passport, which was top of the index in 2015 but now sits in fifth place. 

Completing the Top 5 losers list is Canada, which dropped three ranks over the past decade from fourth to seventh place.

In contrast, China is among the biggest climbers, ascending from 94th place in 2015 to 60th in 2025, with its visa-free score increasing by 40 destinations.

In terms of its openness to other nations, China has also leapt up the Henley Openness Index, which ranks all 199 countries worldwide according to the number of nationalities they permit entry to without a prior visa. 

China granted visa-free access to a further 29 countries over the past year alone, and now sits in 80th position, granting visa-free entry to 58 nations, compared to its rival America, which ranks 84th and allows just 46 other countries access without a visa.