Singapore now holds the title of the world's most powerful passport, according to the 2025 Henley Passport Index.
The index, compiled by migration consultancy Henley & Partners, ranks passports based on the number of destinations their holders can access without a visa. In 2024, Singapore tied for the top spot with five other countries—Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, and France. However, the city-state has pulled ahead this year, with its citizens enjoying visa-free access to 195 of 227 global destinations, as revealed in the latest rankings published Wednesday.
Japan ranks second with visa-free access to 193 destinations. Several EU nations, including France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, have dropped two spots, now ranking in third position. They are joined by Finland and South Korea, which also lost one place over the past year. All six countries now grant their passport holders visa-free access to 192 destinations.
In fourth place on the 2025 Henley Passport Index is a seven-nation EU group—Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden—each granting visa-free access to 191 destinations.
Fifth place is shared by Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, and the UK, all offering access to 190 destinations without a visa.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the index, now with visa-free access to only 26 destinations after losing two over the past year. The gap between Afghanistan and Singapore, the top-ranking passport, has widened to 169 destinations, marking the largest disparity in the index's 19-year history.
The remainder of the top 10 is largely dominated by European nations but also includes Australia in sixth place (189 destinations), Canada in seventh (188), the US in ninth (186), and the UAE—making history as the first and only Arab state to rank among the highest tiers.
The UAE follows closely behind the United States in the 2025 Henley Passport Index. U.S. passport holders can access 186 destinations visa-free, but the ranking highlights a decline for the U.S., which is among 22 countries whose passport strength has dropped over the past decade.
"Surprisingly, the US is the second-biggest faller between 2015 and 2025 after Venezuela, plummeting seven places from 2nd to its current 9th position," the release stated.
