The Henley Passport Index is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom allowed by those countries' ordinary passports for their citizens.^[3] It started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index^[4] and was changed and renamed in January 2018.^[5]

The index annually ranks 199 passports of the world by the number of countries that their holders can travel to without requiring a visa.^[6] The number of countries that a specific passport can access becomes its visa-free "score". In collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA),^[7] and using official data from their global database, Henley & Partners has analysed the visa regulations of almost all the world's countries and territories since 2006.^[4][8]

Definition of the Index

The Henley Passport index ranks passports according to the number of destinations that can be reached using a particular country's ordinary passport without the need of a prior visa ("visa-free").^[9][10] The survey ranks 199 passports against 227 destination^[11] countries, territories, and micro-states.^[12][13][14]

The IATA maintains a database of travel information worldwide and all destinations that are in the IATA database are considered by the index.^[15] However, because not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports ranked than destinations about which queries are made.^[16]

Method

To determine the score for each country or territory,^[17] its passport is checked against the IATA database in several steps:

1. Each of the 199 passports on the list is checked against all 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database. The score is updated throughout the year.^[18]
2. Each query must satisfy certain conditions:
   • passport is issued in the country of nationality
   • passport holder is an adult citizen of the country that issued the passport and a lone traveller, not part of a tourist group
   • entry is sought for tourism or business
   • the stay is a minimum of three days
3. Further conditions:
   • queries are made only for holders of normal passports, not diplomatic, service, emergency, or temporary passports; and other travel documents are disregarded
   • passport holders need not meet any complex requirements for entry (for example, possessing a government-issued letter, translations, or empty pages)
   • passport holders have all necessary vaccinations and certificates
   • passport holders are arriving at and departing from the same airport
   • passport holders are seeking a short stay rather than a transit
   • the port of entry is a major city or capital, in cases where this is required
   • requirements by the destination country or territory regarding a particular length of validity of passports are disregarded
   • passport holders meet all basic requirements for entry (for example, holding a hotel reservation or having proof of sufficient funds or return tickets)
   • advance passenger information and advance approval to board are not considered to be a visa requirement or travel restriction, neither is the requirement to pay airport tax
4. If no visa is required for passport holders from a particular country or territory to enter the destination, then that passport scores 1. The passport also scores 1 if a visa on arrival, a visitor's permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) can be obtained because they do not require pre-departure government approval, perhaps because of specific visa-waiver programs in place.
5. Where visas are needed, or where passport holders must get government-approved electronic visas (e-Visas) before departure, a score of 0 is given. If passport holders must get government approval before leaving in order to obtain a visa on arrival, this also scores 0.
6. The score for each passport is then totalled by adding up its scores for all destinations.^[19]
7. The index ignores temporary restrictions or airspace closures.^[20]
8. It considers mobility data based on national GDPs and the percentage of global wealth that the country's passport could provide access to.^[21]

Rankings

2023 Henley Passport Index

As of 8 December 2023, the Singaporean passport offers holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 195 countries^[25] and territories,^[26] followed by the Japanese with 193 and the Finnish, French, German, Italian, South Korean, Spanish and Swedish passports, each offering 190 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to its holders. These rankings were subsequently followed by the Austrian, Danish, Irish, Luxembourgeois and British passports, each offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to 189 countries and territories.

An Afghan passport has once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 27 destinations visa-free.^[22][27] This was followed by the Iraqi passport at 29 destinations and the Syrian passport at 30 destinations.^[28]

2023 rank	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1	Japan	193
2	Singapore	192
3	Austria	190
	Finland	190
	France	190
	Germany	190
	Italy	190
	South Korea	190
	Spain	190
	Sweden	190
4	Denmark	189
	Ireland	189
	Luxembourg	189
	Netherlands	189
	United Kingdom	189
5	Belgium	188
	Malta	188
	Portugal	188
	Norway	188
6	Czech Republic	187
	New Zealand	187
	Poland	187
	Switzerland	187
7	Australia	186
	Canada	186
	Greece	186
	Hungary	186
	United States	186
8	Lithuania	185
9	Latvia	184
	Slovakia	184
	Slovenia	184
10	Estonia	183
11	Iceland	182
12	Malaysia	182
13	Cyprus	180
	Liechtenstein	180
14	United Arab Emirates	179
15	Bulgaria	177
	Romania	177
16	Croatia	176
	Monaco	176
17	Chile	175
18	Argentina	173
19	San Marino	172
20	Brazil	171
19	Andorra	170
	Hong Kong	170
20	Brunei	166
21	Barbados	163
22	Israel	159
	Mexico	159
23	Bahamas	156
24	Seychelles	155
	Saint Kitts and Nevis	155
25	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	154
	Vatican City	154
26	Uruguay	153
27	Costa Rica	151
28	Antigua and Barbuda	150
	Trinidad and Tobago	150
29	Mauritius	148
30	Grenada	147
	Saint Lucia	147
	Ukraine	150
31	Macau	144
	Panama	144
	Taiwan	144
32	Dominica	143
	Paraguay	143
33	Peru	136
34	Serbia	137
35	Guatemala	136
36	Honduras	134
37	Georgia	132
	Colombia	132
	El Salvador	132
	Solomon Islands	132
38	Samoa	131
39	Tonga	130
40	Nicaragua	127
	Tuvalu	127
	Venezuela	127
41	North Macedonia	125
42	Montenegro	124
44	Albania	123
	Kiribati	123
45	Marshall Islands	122
46	Moldova	120
47	Palau	119
48	Bosnia and Herzegovina	119
49	Micronesia	116
51	Russia	118
52	Turkey	131
53	Belize	104
54	Qatar	118
55	South Africa	102
56	Vanuatu	101
57	Kuwait	115
58	East Timor	94
59	Ecuador	92
60	Maldives	91
61	Nauru	89
62	Fiji	88
63	Bahrain	87
	Botswana	87
64	Guyana	86
	Jamaica	86
65	Saudi Arabia	83
66	Oman	82
	Papua New Guinea	82
67	China	80
	Thailand	80
68	Belarus	79
69	Bolivia	78
	Lesotho	78
	Namibia	78
70	Suriname	77
71	Kazakhstan	76
72	Indonesia	75
	Eswatini	75
73	Malawi	74
74	Kenya	73
75	Tanzania	72
76	Kosovo	71
	Tunisia	70
	Zambia	70
77	Azerbaijan	69
	Dominican Republic	69
	Gambia	69
78	Uganda	67
79	Philippines	66
	Zimbabwe	66
80	Armenia	65
	Cape Verde	65
	Morocco	65
	Sierra Leone	65
81	Ghana	63
	Kyrgyzstan	63
82	Cuba	62
83	Mongolia	61
	Mozambique	61
	Rwanda	61
84	Benin	60
	India	60
85	São Tomé and Príncipe	59
	Tajikistan	59
	Uzbekistan	59
86	Mauritania	58
87	Burkina Faso	57
88	Gabon	56
	Ivory Coast	56
	Senegal	56
89	Equatorial Guinea	55
	Guinea	55
	Madagascar	55
	Vietnam	55
90	Algeria	54
	Cambodia	54
	Togo	54
91	Comoros	53
	Jordan	53
	Mali	53
	Niger	53
92	Bhutan	52
	Central African Republic	52
	Chad	52
	Egypt	52
	Guinea-Bissau	52
	Turkmenistan	52
93	Angola	50
	Burundi	50
	Cameroon	50
	Laos	50
94	Congo	49
	Liberia	49
95	Djibouti	48
	Haiti	48
96	Myanmar	47
97	Ethiopia	46
98	Eritrea	45
	Nigeria	45
	South Sudan	45
99	Iran	44
100	DR Congo	42
	Sudan	42
101	Lebanon	41
102	Libya	40
	North Korea	40
	Sri Lanka	40
103	Bangladesh	39
104	Palestine	38
105	Nepal	36
106	Somalia	35
107	Yemen	34
108	Pakistan	33
109	Syria	30
110	Iraq	29
111	Afghanistan	27

2022 Henley Passport Index

As of 2022, a Japanese passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 193 countries and territories, with South Korean and Singapore passports each offering 192 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders.^[29][30] An American passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 186 countries and territories, with the British passport offering 187 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries and territories to their holders. Canadian and Australian passports each offer their holders visa-free access to 185 countries and territories.^[31]

An Afghan passport has once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 27 destinations visa-free.^[32]

2022 rank[33]	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1	Japan	193
2	Singapore	192
	South Korea	192
4	Germany	190
	Spain	190
6	Finland	189
	Italy	189
	Luxembourg	189
9	Austria	188
	Denmark	188
	Netherlands	188
	Sweden	188
13	France	187
	Ireland	187
	Portugal	187
	United Kingdom	187
17	Belgium	186
	New Zealand	186
	Norway	186
	Switzerland	186
	United States	186
22	Australia	185
	Canada	185
	Czech Republic	185
	Greece	185
	Malta	185
27	Hungary	183
28	Lithuania	182
	Poland	182
	Slovakia	182
31	Estonia	181
	Latvia	181
	Slovenia	181
34	Iceland	180
35	Malaysia	179
36	Liechtenstein	178
37	Cyprus	176
	United Arab Emirates	176
39	Chile	174
	Monaco	174
	Romania	174
42	Bulgaria	173
	Croatia	173
44	Hong Kong	171
45	Argentina	170
	Brazil	170
47	San Marino	169
48	Andorra	168
49	Brunei	166
50	Barbados	163
51	Israel	159
	Mexico	159
53	Saint Kitts and Nevis	157
54	Bahamas	155
55	Vatican City	154
56	Seychelles	153
	Uruguay	153
58	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	152
59	Antigua and Barbuda	151
	Trinidad and Tobago	151
61	Costa Rica	150
62	Saint Lucia	147
63	Grenada	146
	Mauritius	146
65	Dominica	145
Taiwan	145
67	Macau	144
	Ukraine	144
69	Panama	143
70	Paraguay	142
71	Peru	136
	Serbia	136
73	El Salvador	134
74	Guatemala	133
	Honduras	133
76	Colombia	132
	Samoa	132
	Solomon Islands	132
79	Tonga	130
	Venezuela	129
81	Nicaragua	128
	Tuvalu	128
83	North Macedonia	125
84	Kiribati	124
	Montenegro	124
86	Marshall Islands	123
87	Moldova	121
88	Palau	120
89	Russia	119
90	Bosnia and Herzegovina	118
	Micronesia	118
92	Georgia	116
93	Albania	115
94	Turkey	110
95	South Africa	105
96	Belize	103
97	Qatar	99
98	Vanuatu	98
99	Kuwait	96
100	East Timor	94
101	Ecuador	92
102	Nauru	90
103	Fiji	89
	Maldives	89
105	Guyana	88
106	Botswana	87
	Jamaica	87
108	Bahrain	86
109	Papua New Guinea	83
110	Oman	81
	Saudi Arabia	81
112	Bolivia	80
	China	80
114	Namibia	79
	Thailand	79
116	Belarus	78
117	Lesotho	77
	Suriname	77
119	Kazakhstan	76
120	Eswatini	75
121	Malawi	74
122	Indonesia	72
	Kenya	72
	Tanzania	72
	Zambia	72
126	Tunisia	71
127	Azerbaijan	70
	Dominican Republic	70
129	Gambia	69
130	Cape Verde	67
	Philippines	67
	Uganda	67
133	Armenia	66
	Zimbabwe	66
135	Cuba	65
	Ghana	65
	Morocco	65
138	Kyrgyzstan	64
	Sierra Leone	64
140	Mozambique	63
141	Benin	62
	Mongolia	62
143	Rwanda	61
	São Tomé and Príncipe	61
145	India	60
	Mauritania	60
	Tajikistan	60
148	Burkina Faso	59
	Uzbekistan	59
150	Gabon	58
151	Ivory Coast	57
	Senegal	57
153	Equatorial Guinea	56
	Madagascar	56
155	Guinea	55
	Mali	55
	Togo	55
	Vietnam	55
159	Bhutan	54
	Cambodia	54
	Chad	54
	Comoros	54
	Niger	54
164	Algeria	53
	Central African Republic	53
	Egypt	53
	Guinea-Bissau	53
	Jordan	53
	Turkmenistan	53
170	Angola	51
	Burundi	51
	Cameroon	51
	Laos	51
174	Liberia	50
175	Congo	49
	Haiti	49
177	Djibouti	48
178	Myanmar	47
179	Ethiopia	46
	Nigeria	46
181	Eritrea	44
	South Sudan	44
183	Iran	43
184	DR Congo	42
	Lebanon	42
	Sri Lanka	42
	Sudan	42
188	Bangladesh	41
	Kosovo	41
	Libya	41
191	North Korea	40
192	Nepal	38
	Palestine	38
194	Somalia	35
195	Yemen	34
196	Pakistan	32
197	Syria	30
198	Iraq	29
199	Afghanistan	27

Older rankings

In the table below, the "access" columns denote the number of visa-free destinations for holders of that passport. Unless indicated otherwise, the data in this table is taken from these sources.^[33][34]

Country	2020 rank	2020 access	2019 rank	2010 rank	2006 rank
Japan	1	191	1	6	3
Singapore	2	190	1	11	8
Germany	3	189	2	5	2
South Korea	3	189	2	13	11
Finland	4	188	2	4	1
Italy	4	188	3	5	3
Luxembourg	4	188	3	4	3
Spain	4	188	4	6	4
Austria	5	187	5	8	6
Denmark	5	187	3	2	1
France	6	186	4	5	3
Ireland	6	186	6	7	2
Netherlands	6	186	5	5	5
Portugal	6	186	5	8	7
Sweden	6	186	4	3	2
Belgium	7	185	6	6	4
Switzerland	7	185	6	10	4
Norway	7	185	6	7	4
United Kingdom	7	185	6	1	3
United States	7	185	6	7	1
Czech Republic	8	184	7	18	21
Greece	8	184	6	12	9
Malta	8	184	7	15	11
New Zealand	8	184	8	9	6
Australia	9	183	9	9	9
Canada	9	183	6	9	6
Hungary	10	182	10	18	19
Lithuania	11	181	9	19	24
Poland	11	181	13	16	16
Slovakia	11	181	9	17	22
Iceland	12	180	10	13	9
Latvia	12	180	10	20	26
Slovenia	12	180	10	17	17
Estonia	13	179	11	19	26
Liechtenstein	14	178	12	14	10
Malaysia	14	178	12	13	9
Monaco	15	175	14	21	15
Chile	16	174	13	27	14
Cyprus	16	174	14	18	12
Romania	17	172	16	22	34
Bulgaria	18	171	17	25	29
Argentina	19	170	17	26	19
Brazil	19	170	17	28	20
Croatia	19	170	18	35	28
Hong Kong	19	170	18	19	13
United Arab Emirates	19	170	15	65	62
San Marino	20	168	19	23	14
Andorra	21	167	20	27	20
Brunei	22	166	21	24	19
Barbados	23	161	22	29	35
Israel	24	160	22	25	18
Mexico	25	159	23	32	21
Saint Kitts and Nevis	26	156	24	31	40
Bahamas	27	155	24	30	35
Uruguay	28	153	25	34	20
Antigua and Barbuda	29	151	28	33	39
Seychelles	29	151	26	39	46
Costa Rica	30	150	27	37	23
Trinidad and Tobago	30	150	29	45	36
Vatican City	31	149	29	39
Mauritius	32	148	30	40	46
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	32	148	31	47	38
Saint Lucia	33	146	31	46	39
Taiwan	33	146	31	69	55
Macau	34	144	33	44	35
Grenada	35	143	32	49	41
Paraguay	36	142	32	39	30
Panama	37	141	34	41	30
Dominica	38	140	35	51	46
Peru	39	135	36	58	56
El Salvador	40	134	37	42	31
Honduras	40	134	37	42	32
Serbia	40	134	39	47	64
Guatemala	41	133	38	42	30
Samoa	42	131	39	53	49
Solomon Islands	42	131	40	52	44
Vanuatu	43	130	40	55	51
Nicaragua	44	129	41	43	33
Ukraine	44	129	43	65	64
Venezuela	44	129	38	36	25
Colombia	45	127	43	73	64
Tuvalu	45	127	42	54	48
Tonga	46	125	44	57	52
Montenegro	47	124	46	48
North Macedonia	47	124	45	46
Kiribati	48	122	46	56	49
Marshall Islands	48	122	46	66	61
Moldova	49	120	47	66
Palau	50	119	47	70
Micronesia	51	118	47	69
Russia	51	118	48	49	62
Bosnia and Herzegovina	52	117	49	74	71
Georgia	53	116	50	72	68
Albania	54	114	51	78	79
Turkey	55	111	52	46	46
Belize	56	101	54	50	42
South Africa	56	101	53	47	37
Kuwait	57	95	56	58	58
Qatar	57	95	57	63	60
East Timor	57	95	55	85
Ecuador	58	91	58	64	56
Nauru	59	89	60	56	54
Fiji	60	88	59	57	51
Guyana	60	88	60	57	45
Jamaica	61	86	61	56	45
Botswana	62	85	62	60	50
Maldives	62	85	61	56	52
Papua New Guinea	63	84	62	59	56
Bahrain	64	82	63	62	59
Oman	65	79	64	68	61
Bolivia	66	78	65	67	29
Suriname	66	78	65	66	57
Thailand	66	78	66	69	67
Namibia	67	77	67	62	56
Saudi Arabia	67	77	69	71	65
Kazakhstan	68	76	68	73	68
Belarus	69	75	67	72	64
Lesotho	69	75	69	64	47
China	70	74	72	88	78
Eswatini	70	74	70	65	52
Malawi	71	73	71	64	50
Kenya	72	72	72	64	52
Indonesia	73	71	73	84	67
Tanzania	73	71	75	68	56
Zambia	73	71	73	65	53
Tunisia	74	69	75	67	59
Gambia	75	68	74	61	45
Azerbaijan	76	67	76	76	68
Philippines	76	67	77	73	63
Uganda	76	67	76	70	58
Cape Verde	77	66	76	73
Dominican Republic	78	65	78	77	71
Ghana	78	65	77	67	53
Zimbabwe	78	65	78	70	56
Cuba	79	64	77	78	69
Morocco	79	64	80	76	66
Armenia	80	63	81	76	69
Kyrgyzstan	80	63	80	74	68
Sierra Leone	80	63	79	64	51
Benin	81	62	80	73	61
Mozambique	81	62	81	82	74
Mongolia	81	62	80	82	72
São Tomé and Príncipe	82	61	81	83	74
Rwanda	83	60	84	87	73
Burkina Faso	84	59	83	76	62
Mauritania	84	59	83	40	58
India	85	58	82	77	71
Tajikistan	85	58	84	77	69
Gabon	86	57	85	85	72
Ivory Coast	86	57	84	72
Uzbekistan	86	57	85	80	72
Senegal	87	56	86	76	60
Equatorial Guinea	88	55	89	89	76
Guinea	88	55	85	75	60
Madagascar	88	55	87	83	71
Togo	88	55	86	76	62
Cambodia	89	54	88	87	79
Mali	89	54	87	75	59
Niger	89	54	87	76	60
Vietnam	89	54	90	84	78
Bhutan	90	53	89	83	77
Chad	90	53	88	82
Comoros	90	53	88	89
Guinea-Bissau	90	53	87	79	63
Turkmenistan	90	53	90	86	77
Central African Republic	91	52	90	81	68
Algeria	92	51	91	79	73
Jordan	92	51	92	97	75
Angola	93	50	92	92	77
Burundi	93	50	93	89	78
Egypt	93	50	92	84
Laos	93	50	92	85	76
Cameroon	94	49	92	85	70
Haiti	94	49	92	85	74
Liberia	94	49	93	82	65
Congo	95	48	94	85	69
Djibouti	96	47	95	91	77
Myanmar	96	47	95	92	81
Nigeria	97	46	95	76	62
Ethiopia	98	44	97	92	78
South Sudan	99	43	97
DR Congo	100	42	97	90
Eritrea	100	42	99	93	76
Sri Lanka	100	42	96	84	74
Bangladesh	101	41	99	85	68
Iran	101	41	99	92	82
Kosovo	102	40	98	89
Lebanon	102	40	100	94	79
Sudan	102	40	102	96	79
North Korea	103	39	100	90	78
Libya	104	38	100	87	77
Nepal	104	38	101	88	76
Palestine	104	38	102	97
Somalia	105	33	104	95	81
Yemen	105	33	103	88	78
Pakistan	106	32	104	90	79
Syria	107	29	105	87	80
Iraq	108	28	106	97	81
Afghanistan	109	26	107	98	83

See also

• Dimitry Kochenov
• Five Nations Passport Group
• The Passport Index

References