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The Henley Passport Index measures the power of each country’s passports annually. The index uses historical data (spanning over 19 years) to rank all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. The report generally doesn’t seem to have too many changes; there were some in 2023 when Japan lost its number one spot and Singapore took the lead. The city-state retains this title in 2024 and set a new record with its citizens able to access 195 travel destinations out of 227 around the world without visas.
A five-way tie for second place went to France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain with visa-free access to 192 destinations. A seven-way tie occurred in third place with Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden. Each of these passports offers access to 191 destinations.
The UK held onto fourth place, but not alone. It was tied with Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland. Each of these nations offers visa-free access to 190 destinations. The US maintained its 2023 rank of eighth place. Americans can visit 186 destinations visa-free. Both the UK and the US jointly held first place on the index ten years ago in 2014, but have been on a downward trajectory since then.
Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the list. Its visa-free score is only 26. This dropped even further from 2023 and is the lowest recorded score of any nation in the history of this 19-year-old index.
Anthony’s Take: Visa-free travel makes trips so much easier. While the US has fallen in the past decade, a US passport is still a powerful document that opens many doors to the world. I’m working on getting my Italian citizenship and look forward to having it as well (for the EU passport lines when traveling if nothing else).
(Image Credits: Rawpixel and Mike Enerio.)
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Advertiser & Editorial Disclosure: The Bulkhead Seat earns an affiliate commission for anyone approved through the links above This compensation may impact how and where links appear on this site. We work to provide the best publicly available offers to our readers. We frequently update them, but this site does not include all available offers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities.
1 comment
I’ve never cared to apply for citizenship in any countries where I am eligible to acquire citizenships, so I stick with the citizenship of my birth. But the number of US citizens who seem interested in acquiring foreign citizenship via whatever paperwork (and money) is required has been jumping up over the years. I get so many queries about buying into citizenship and residency rights in other countries or how to play the heritage game to acquire additional citizenships that it is notable compared to decades ago.