New Strongest Passport for 2024 Announced - Which Country?

Source: OT-Team(G),Henley & Partners

  Recently, Henley Passport Index published the 2024 global passport ranking.

  Singapore breaks away from the peloton of six countries that shared the top spot on the Henley Passport Index as we entered the new year, reclaiming its title as the world's most powerful passport in the latest ranking. The city-state also sets a new record score, with its citizens now enjoying access to 195 travel destinations out of 227 around the world visa-free. 

  France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain drop to joint-2nd place, each with visa-free access to 192 destinations, and an unprecedented seven-nation cohort, each with access to 191 destinations without a prior visa — Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden — now sit in 3rd place on the ranking, which is based on exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).

  The UK hangs onto 4th place along with Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland, despite its visa-free destination score falling to 190. The US, on the other hand, continues its now decade-long slide down the index, dropping down to 8th spot, with access to just 186 destinations visa-free. Former passport powerhouses, the UK and the US jointly held 1st place on the index 10 years ago in 2014. 

  Afghanistan remains firmly entrenched as the world's weakest passport, losing access to yet another destination over the past six months, leaving its citizens with access to only 26 countries visa-free — the lowest score ever recorded in history of the 19-year-old index.

Biggest Climbers and Fallers 2024

  The UAE makes it into the Top 10 for the first time, having added an impressive 152 destinations since the index's inception in 2006 to achieve its current visa-free score of 185, and rising a remarkable 53 places in the ranking from 62nd to 9th position in the process.

  China is among the Top 10 countries that has climbed the highest in the ranking over the past decade. Since 2014, China has jumped up 24 places from 83rd to 59th (with access to 85 destinations visa-free).

  The biggest faller over the last decade is Venezuela, which has plunged 17 places from 25th to 42nd on the Henley Passport Index.

Biggest Climbers and Fallers 2014–2024

  The two graphs show the countries that have climbed the highest in the Henley Passport Index rankings over the past decade, as well as those that have fallen most sharply over that period.