Every year I see different companies making lists of the most powerful passports in the world. The most famous of them is probably the Henley Passport Index by Henley & Partners, which has been ranking countries according to the travel freedom allowed by those countries' ordinary passports for their citizens since 2006. The problem with such ranking is that it only takes into account access to foreign countries as a tourist, not the right to live and work visa-free, as is the case for EU citizens in other EU countries.
According to Henley these are the 30 strongest passports in 2024.
But the passports of EU, EEA and Schengen countries are clearly stronger than non-EU passports as they provide their carriers not only to travel visa-free for as long as they want (not just 30 days or 90 days as usual tourists) to all 27 EU countries + 3 Schengen countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland) + 4 micro-nations (Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican). They can also live, study, work, get social security, health insurance and do basically anything they would be able to do in their home country throughout the European Union.
So EU passports are in a category of their own and are always stronger than a non-EU passport with an equal number of visa-free destinations.
Citizen of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein can also freely live in an EU country without an EU passport, although they don't have all the rights of EU citizens.
Which countries?
Another thing to take into account when comparing the power of passports is which specific countries are in the list of travel-free destinations. It goes without saying that having the right to travel to a huge and populous country like the USA, India or China is more advantageous than being able to travel to tiny island nations like Tuvalu, Nauru, Niue or Palau, which are all less populous than Gibraltar, San Marino or Monaco. So not all destinations should get the same score. If micronations like that get one point, then regular countries should get maybe 3 points and large countries of over 300 million people like the US, India and China at least 10 points. That would also bring more balance with the EU passports.
I can imagine Americans say that they can live and work in 50 states, which is as good as the EU/Schengen's 30 countries. That's not completely true because the EU + Schengen is still considerably more populous than the USA (462 million vs 338 million), but it also provides more cultural, social, economic and political diversity - not to mention the huge historical heritage of European countries compared to the US, where a single country like Italy or Spain or France easily beats the US for its touristic attractivity.
So which passports are the strongest?
Ideally I should have attributed a certain score to each country based on its size and population, but that would take me too long and I leave it to companies like Henley who specialise in the passport ranking to do it. Nevertheless it's easy to sort at least the top 5 countries.
Among the countries with 194 visa-free destinations, Singapore and Japan are not EU countries and therefore their passports are less powerful than those of
France, Germany, Italy and Spain, which also have 194 visa-free destinations. Furthermore Japanese people can no longer travel to China without a visa since 2020. All five other countries can travel to China visa-free.
French, German, Italian and Spanish passport holders have basically all the same destinations in their lists with the same length of stay allowed in every country. In other words, these four passports are the strongest in the world.
The Dutch passport could also be considered as strong as Dutch people are among a handful of European countries who obtained visa-free travel to China from December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024. It thus completes the top 5.
Other EU citizens who can travel to China visa-free are the Irish, Belgians, Luxembourgers, Austrians. On the other hand Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Portuguese citizens still cannot, and neither can British and Norwegian people.
Apart from visa requirements for China, there are only minor differences between Western and Northern European countries for travel limitations. I used the compare my passport tool on Henley & Partners to see which visas were needed for countries outside the top 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain):
The Henley ranking failed to mention that South Koreans cannot travel to 8 countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Ukraine) deemed too dangerous by the South Korean government. Apart from the US government prohibiting its citizens to travel to North Korea, South Korea is the only developed country that imposes complete travel bans to some destinations. From the way it is formulated the ban seems to apply to all South Korean citizens without exception, therefore also for humanitarian purposes, journalists, soldiers, etc. Among those 8 countries, Iraq and Ukraine do not require South Koreans to have a visa, but as they are banned from going there by their governments, there should be two countries less in the visa-free destinations than listed by Henley & Partners.
According to Henley these are the 30 strongest passports in 2024.
| 2024 rank | Passport issuing country | Visa-free destinations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |
| 194 |
| 1 | 
| 194 |
| 1 | 
| 194 |
| 1 | 
| 194 |
| 1 | 
| 194 |
| 1 | 
| 194 |
| 2 | 
| 193 |
| 2 | 
| 193 |
| 2 | 
| 193 |
| 2 | 
| 193 |
| 3 | 
| 192 |
| 3 | 
| 192 |
| 3 | 
| 192 |
| 3 | 
| 192 |
| 3 | 
| 192 |
| 4 | 
| 191 |
| 4 | 
| 191 |
| 4 | 
| 191 |
| 5 | 
| 190 |
| 5 | 
| 190 |
| 5 | 
| 190 |
| 5 | 
| 190 |
| 5 | 
| 190 |
| 6 | 
| 189 |
| 6 | 
| 189 |
| 6 | 
| 189 |
| 6 | 
| 189 |
| 7 | 
| 188 |
| 7 | 
| 188 |
| 8 | 
| 187 |
But the passports of EU, EEA and Schengen countries are clearly stronger than non-EU passports as they provide their carriers not only to travel visa-free for as long as they want (not just 30 days or 90 days as usual tourists) to all 27 EU countries + 3 Schengen countries (Switzerland, Norway, Iceland) + 4 micro-nations (Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican). They can also live, study, work, get social security, health insurance and do basically anything they would be able to do in their home country throughout the European Union.
So EU passports are in a category of their own and are always stronger than a non-EU passport with an equal number of visa-free destinations.
Citizen of Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein can also freely live in an EU country without an EU passport, although they don't have all the rights of EU citizens.
Which countries?
Another thing to take into account when comparing the power of passports is which specific countries are in the list of travel-free destinations. It goes without saying that having the right to travel to a huge and populous country like the USA, India or China is more advantageous than being able to travel to tiny island nations like Tuvalu, Nauru, Niue or Palau, which are all less populous than Gibraltar, San Marino or Monaco. So not all destinations should get the same score. If micronations like that get one point, then regular countries should get maybe 3 points and large countries of over 300 million people like the US, India and China at least 10 points. That would also bring more balance with the EU passports.
I can imagine Americans say that they can live and work in 50 states, which is as good as the EU/Schengen's 30 countries. That's not completely true because the EU + Schengen is still considerably more populous than the USA (462 million vs 338 million), but it also provides more cultural, social, economic and political diversity - not to mention the huge historical heritage of European countries compared to the US, where a single country like Italy or Spain or France easily beats the US for its touristic attractivity.
So which passports are the strongest?
Ideally I should have attributed a certain score to each country based on its size and population, but that would take me too long and I leave it to companies like Henley who specialise in the passport ranking to do it. Nevertheless it's easy to sort at least the top 5 countries.
Among the countries with 194 visa-free destinations, Singapore and Japan are not EU countries and therefore their passports are less powerful than those of
France, Germany, Italy and Spain, which also have 194 visa-free destinations. Furthermore Japanese people can no longer travel to China without a visa since 2020. All five other countries can travel to China visa-free.
French, German, Italian and Spanish passport holders have basically all the same destinations in their lists with the same length of stay allowed in every country. In other words, these four passports are the strongest in the world.
The Dutch passport could also be considered as strong as Dutch people are among a handful of European countries who obtained visa-free travel to China from December 1, 2023 to November 30, 2024. It thus completes the top 5.
Other EU citizens who can travel to China visa-free are the Irish, Belgians, Luxembourgers, Austrians. On the other hand Danish, Swedish, Finnish and Portuguese citizens still cannot, and neither can British and Norwegian people.
Apart from visa requirements for China, there are only minor differences between Western and Northern European countries for travel limitations. I used the compare my passport tool on Henley & Partners to see which visas were needed for countries outside the top 5 (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain):
- Austrian, Belgian, Dutch, Greek, Luxembourg, Maltese, Portuguese and Swiss citizens need an e-visa for Vietnam.
- Belgian, Danish, Greek and Portuguese citizens need a visa to go to Pakistan.
- Norwegian and Swiss citizens need a visa for Gabon.
- Swiss citizens need a visa to enter Sierra Leone.
- Norwegians need to a visa for Iraq and Senegal.
- Greek citizens need a visa for Lesotho.
- Maltese citizens need a visa for Guyana, Namibia and Kiribati, but don't need one for Uganda (unlike other Western countries).
- British and Irish citizens need an e-visa for Tajikistan.
- British people need a paper visa to enter Iran and Russia, while other Europeans can get an easier to obtain e-visa.
- Americans, Australians, Canadians and New Zealanders all need a paper visa for Russia and China and an e-visa for Vietnam.
- Americans and Canadians need a visa to travel to Iran and Venezuela.
- Canadians need a visa to travel to Egypt.
- Australians and New Zealanders need to a visa to enter Sao Tome & Principe.
- New Zealanders need a visa for Gabon.
- Americans can't travel to North Korea.
- Japanese, South Koreans and Singaporeans don't need any visa for Azerbaijan (unlike other developed countries).
- Japanese and South Koreans don't need any for India (unlike other developed countries).
- South Koreans don't need any visa for Russia (unlike other developed countries).
- Singaporeans don't need any for Cuba, Ghana and Guinea (unlike other developed countries).
- Japanese and South Koreans need a visa for China and Burkina Faso.
- Japanese citizens need a visa for the Gambia.
- Singaporeans need a visa for Gabon, Guyana, Iraq, Ukraine and Venezuela.
The Henley ranking failed to mention that South Koreans cannot travel to 8 countries (Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Sudan and Ukraine) deemed too dangerous by the South Korean government. Apart from the US government prohibiting its citizens to travel to North Korea, South Korea is the only developed country that imposes complete travel bans to some destinations. From the way it is formulated the ban seems to apply to all South Korean citizens without exception, therefore also for humanitarian purposes, journalists, soldiers, etc. Among those 8 countries, Iraq and Ukraine do not require South Koreans to have a visa, but as they are banned from going there by their governments, there should be two countries less in the visa-free destinations than listed by Henley & Partners.
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