The World’s Most Powerful Passports in 2025, Ranked

For the first time since the Henley Passport Index launched two decades ago, the United States passport no longer ranks among the world’s 10 most powerful passports.

In the 2025 report, which ranks the world’s passports in order of the number of destinations their holders can access without obtaining a visa before arrival, the United States dropped to 12th place, tied with Malaysia, giving Americans visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to 180 destinations—still a wide-reaching list, but no longer a global leader.

Singapore is once again at the top of the index, with visa-free access to 193 of the 227 countries and territories tracked by the company. It’s followed by South Korea (190 destinations) and Japan (189 destinations).

Because multiple countries have the same score as a single spot in the ranking (Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and Switzerland, for example, are tied at fourth with 188 destinations), there are actually 36 countries with more powerful passports than the United States. During the last iteration of the list, the United States came in 10th with access to 182 destinations. As recently as 2014, the United States was number one on the index.

The United States passport’s slide isn’t due to one major policy change but rather a slow erosion of reciprocal travel agreements. While countries like Singapore and South Korea have aggressively pursued new visa-waiver partnerships, the United States has been comparatively cautious about expanding entry for foreign nationals—offering visa-free access to just a small group of countries. That lack of reciprocity has prompted nations to tighten access for Americans in return. In April, for example, Brazil withdrew visa-free access to United States citizens (as well as Australia and Canada) due to lack of reciprocity. And over the past year alone, destinations including Vietnam, Papua New Guinea, and China expanded visa-free privileges for other nationalities but excluded the U.S. from those lists. Meanwhile, the U.S. itself grants visa-free entrance to just 46 nationalities, placing it near the bottom of the so-called “openness” ranking.

“The declining strength of the U.S. passport over the past decade is more than just a reshuffle in rankings—it signals a fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics,” Christian H. Kaelin, chair of Henley & Partners, the London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm that created the list, said in a statement. “Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are surging ahead, while those resting on past privilege are being left behind.”

Annie Pforzheimer, senior associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., noted in the statement that the United States’ retreat is at least partially rooted in politics. “Even before a second Trump presidency, U.S. policy had turned inward,” she stated. “That isolationist mindset is now being reflected in America’s loss of passport power.”

The report also noted that part of the U.S. passport’s slide can be traced back to a policy pivot during President Trump’s most recent term, with his administration focusing on stricter border control. In recent months, the U.S. suspended visa issuance to travelers from 12 nations, introduced higher visa fees (including a forthcoming $250 “visa integrity fee”), and tougher screening for travelers hoping to enter the country. Because passport strength relies heavily on reciprocity—basically, a “you let our citizens in, we’ll let yours in” system—that more closed approach has now led some countries to scale back visa-free access for Americans in response.

The United States wasn’t alone in its drop. The United Kingdom’s passport (which held the top spot in 2015), has also dropped two places since the July 2025 edition of the report, from sixth to eighth.

There’s a wide gap between access offered at the top versus the bottom of the list. Afghanistan is currently last in the rankings, at 106th place, since its passport holders get access to 24 destinations. Syria and Iraq ranked only slightly higher, with access to 26 and 29 destinations, respectively.

The world’s most powerful passports in 2025

According to the Henley Passport Index, 2025’s current most powerful passports in the world are:

• Singapore (193 destinations)
• South Korea (190 destinations)
• Japan (189 destinations)
• Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland (188 destinations)
• Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, the Netherlands (187 destinations)
• Greece, Hungary, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Sweden (186 destinations)
• Australia, Czechia, Malta, Poland (185 destinations)
• Croatia, Estonia, Slovakia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom (184 destinations)
• Canada (183 destinations)
• Latvia, Liechtenstein (182 destinations)

The Henley & Partners list uses data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ranks the passports of 199 countries against the ability of those passport holders to travel to 227 possible destinations (including territories annexed to other countries, like French Polynesia and the British Virgin Islands).

The world’s most powerful passports, according to the Passport Index by Arton

Henley & Partners isn’t the only company that indexes the strength of global passports. The Passport Index by Arton takes into account the same 199 passports as the Henley Index in its rankings, but it excludes territories annexed to other countries. This list also updates its rankings in real time and considers factors such as visa requirements and a country’s standard of living, determined by the United Nations Development Programme Human Development Index. So Arton’s rankings are slightly different.

According to Arton Capital, here’s how 2025’s most powerful passports in the world rank:

• United Arab Emirates (179 destinations)
• Spain (176 destinations)
• Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, Switzerland (175 destinations)
• Hungary, Poland, South Korea, Sweden (174 destinations)
• Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Japan, Liechtenstein, Slovakia (173 destinations)
• Latvia, New Zealand, Slovenia (172 destinations)
• Bulgaria, Iceland, Lithuania, Malta, Romania (171 destinations)
• Australia, Canada, Cyprus, Malaysia, United Kingdom (170 destinations)
• United States (169 destinations)
• Monaco (168 destinations)

To see the full rankings, visit henleypassportindex.com and passportindex.com.

Danielle Hallock, Scott Hocker, and Lyndsey Matthews contributed reporting. This article has been regularly updated and was most recently published on October 16, 2025.