The World's Most and Least Powerful Passports in 2025
Briefing summary
- Singapore ranked first in the October 2025 Henley Passport Index cited by The Economist, with visa-free access to 193 destinations.
- South Korea and Japan followed, while the United States shared the 12th tier with Malaysia at 180 destinations.
- Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq ranked last, with access to 24, 26, and 29 destinations respectively.
The Economist's October 2025 passport-power graphic ranked passports by the number of destinations their holders can enter without first obtaining a visa. The result is a familiar but important reminder: passport power is highly unequal, and the gap between the strongest and weakest travel documents remains enormous.
Strongest passports
| Rank | Passport | Visa-free destinations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Singapore | 193 |
| 2 | South Korea | 190 |
| 3 | Japan | 189 |
| 4= | Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Luxembourg | 188 |
| 5= | Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland, Netherlands | 187 |
| 6= | Greece, Hungary, Norway, New Zealand, Portugal, Sweden | 186 |
| 7= | Australia, Czech Republic, Malta, Poland | 185 |
| 8= | United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Britain, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia | 184 |
| 9 | Canada | 183 |
| 10= | Liechtenstein, Latvia | 182 |
| 11= | Iceland, Lithuania | 181 |
| 12= | Malaysia, United States | 180 |
The U.S. placement is the headline for American readers: the American passport remained very strong, but it was no longer in the top ten in this ranking. Britain, which had previously held the top spot in the mid-2010s, appeared in the eighth tier.
Weakest passports
| Rank | Passport | Visa-free destinations |
|---|---|---|
| 106 | Afghanistan | 24 |
| 105 | Syria | 26 |
| 104 | Iraq | 29 |
| 103= | Pakistan, Yemen | 31 |
| 102 | Somalia | 33 |
| 101 | Nepal | 36 |
| 100= | Bangladesh, North Korea | 38 |
| 99= | Eritrea, Libya, Palestinian Territories | 39 |
Citizeo context
The value of an additional passport is not abstract. It can mean easier travel, more places to live or work, a backup plan for family members, better access to regional blocs like the EU, and fewer single-country dependencies if politics, tax rules, or personal circumstances change.
The practical question is how to get from interest to a realistic pathway. For some people, the answer may be citizenship by descent through a parent or grandparent, naturalization after a residence pathway, marriage or family sponsorship, or study followed by work authorization. For others, it may simply be a matter of a careful investment.
Citizeo helps turn that search into a structured comparison. You can map your ancestry, citizenships, family ties, work profile, education, income, and investment flexibility against hundreds of citizenship and residency pathways, then see which routes are actually plausible for your situation.
Start by comparing citizenship-by-investment programs, reviewing how Americans can get an EU passport, or checking which citizenship and residency pathways you may already match.
Source
- The Economist - "The world's most-and least-powerful passports", Graphic detail, October 16, 2025. The article cites Henley & Partners' October 2025 passport index.