powerful passports for 2025: The United Arab Emirates, together with Lithuania, Latvia, and Slovenia, is ranked No. 10 on a 2025 list of the most powerful passports in the world.
Singapore is celebrating the start of a new year by taking the top spot in a quarterly ranking of the most powerful passports in the world.
According to the Henley Passport Index, holders of this coveted red travel document have more visa-free access to 195 out of 227 places globally than citizens of any other country.
Japan, which won the silver medal by restoring visa-free access to neighboring China for the first time since the Covid-19 lockdowns, is ranked second with an open door to 193 destinations.
Together with Finland and South Korea, the EU members France, Germany, Italy, and Spain rank third, offering visa-free entry to 192 destinations.
The power of the European Union’s border-free Schengen area, which ensures free movement to over 425 million EU members, is demonstrated by its fourth-place rating. Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden are among the seven EU members that hold it, and each has visa-free access to 191 locations.
Five nations—Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom—all have visa-free access to 190 locations, squeezing into fifth place. The index, which is currently in its 20th year, was developed by the London-based global citizenship and residency advice business Henley & Partners. It uses proprietary data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to track global freedoms in 227 countries and territories worldwide.
Afghanistan, which is ranked at the bottom of the list at number 106, has only 26 visa-free destinations, two fewer than it had a year ago. Iraq is ranked 104th with 31 destinations, and Syria is ranked 105th with 27 destinations.
This indicates that there has never been a greater disparity in the travel freedoms enjoyed by the citizens at the top and bottom of the ranking. As temperatures rise and natural disasters become more frequent and severe, displacing communities and making their environments uninhabitable, Christian H. Kaelin, chair of Henley and Partners, stated in a press release that “the very notion of citizenship and its birthright lottery needs a fundamental rethink.”
“Many people are compelled to leave their homes in search of safety and refuge due to political instability and armed conflicts in different regions at the same time.” With a few notable exceptions, European nations dominate the remaining top 10. Malta, Poland, and Canada are at No. 7, while Australia and Greece are tied at No. 6.
Czechia and Hungary share eighth place, followed by Estonia and the United States at number nine, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovenia, and the United Arab Emirates at number ten.
With visa-free access to 185 destinations, the UAE has risen 32 spots to 10th place, making it one of the index’s greatest success stories in terms of global mobility. Since 2015, it has gained access to an extra 72 destinations.
Having risen from 94th rank in 2015 to No. 60 in 2025, China is another strong climber. Out of the 199 passports in the world, only 22 have dropped in the last ten years, and some unexpected names are at the top of the list.
The United States is the second-highest faller, after Venezuela at number one. From number two to number nine, it has fallen seven spots.
The British passport, which was once number one, is at number five, followed by the South Pacific archipelago of Vanuatu at number four. After falling three spots in the rankings over the past ten years, Canada is now ranked No. 5 on the losers list.
To rate international passports according to the access they provide to their citizens, financial firms have created a variety of indices, such as the Henley & Partners list.
The passports of 193 UN members as well as six territories—Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong, Kosovo, the Palestinian territories, and the Vatican—are taken into account by Arton Capital’s Passport Index. Excluded are territories that have been annexed by other nations.
Although its data is collected by closely monitoring the portals of many governments, it is also updated in real-time throughout the year.
With a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 180, the United Arab Emirates is ranked first in Arton’s Global Passport Power Rank 2025. With a score of 179, Spain is in second position.
The most powerful passports for 2025
1. Singapore (195 destinations)
2. Japan (193)
3. France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Finland, South Korea (192)
4. Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway (191)
5. Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, United Kingdom (190)
6. Greece, Australia (189)
7. Canada, Poland, Malta (188)
8. Hungary, Czechia (187)
9. Estonia, United States (186)
10. Lithuania, Latvia, Slovenia, United Arab Emirates (185)
