Henley Passport Index 2025: Singapore passport world's most powerful, India slips 5 places

Singapore has reclaimed its position as the world’s most powerful passport, granting visa-free access to 195 out of 227 global destinations worldwide, according to the Henley Passport Index 2025. Japan follows in second position, offering access to 193 destinations. The Indian passport, however, dropped 5 positions, ranking 85th this year with 57 visa-free destinations, down from 62 in 2024 when it held the 80th position.

“Singapore reclaims its crown as the most powerful passport in the world with visa-free access to 195 out of 227 destinations worldwide, leaving Japan in the runner-up spot with a score of 193 but still ahead of the rest after it regained visa-free access to neighboring China for the first time since the Covid lockdowns,” Henley & Partners’ press release on ‘The World’s Most (and Least) Powerful Passports in 2025’ stated.

Henley Passport Index is based on Travel Information Manual Automatic (Timatic) data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the world’s largest database of travel information. The index ranks 199 passports in the world based on the number of 227 global destinations they offer visa-free access to.

Tying at the third position, EU member states France, Germany, Italy, and Spain along with Finland and South Korea now have access to 192 destinations with no visa. Another set of EU nations—Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Sweden—share the fourth position with visa-free access to 191 destinations followed by the group of Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland and the UK at the fifth position offering 190 visa-free destinations.

Last year in 2024, EU states France, Germany and Italy along with Japan, Singapore and Spain held the first position with access to 194 destinations.

Some interesting highlights:

• This year, Afghanistan has the world’s weakest passport at 106th position with access to only 26 destinations out of 227. Similarly, it was also at the last position in 2024, with 28 visa-free destinations at the 104th position.

• The other two weakest passports in the world are of Iraq and Syria—at 104th and 105th positions with 31 and 27 destinations, respectively. These passports were also among the top 3 weakest passports in 2024 with access to 31 and 29 destinations, respectively.

• The top 10 of the index is dominated by EU states. “The rest of the index’s Top 10 is largely dominated by European countries, except for Australia (6th place with 189 destinations), Canada (7th place with 188 destinations), the US (9th place with 186 destinations),” the report stated.

• The UAE holds the 10th position and was the biggest climber this time, becoming the first and only Arab nation to make it to the top 10 with visa-free access to 185 destinations, jumping from just 72 destinations in 2015.

• The US and the UK were among the biggest losers. Over the past decade, only 22 of the world's 199 passports have seen a decline in their ranking on the Henley Passport Index. Notably, the United States has experienced the second-largest drop, falling seven places from 2nd to 9th, just behind Venezuela, which saw the biggest decline. Vanuatu comes in third, dropping six spots from 48th to 54th. The British passport, once at the top in 2015, now holds 5th place. “Completing the Top 5 losers list is Canada, which dropped three ranks over the past decade from 4th to its current 7th place,” the Henley report added.

• China was also one of the biggest climbers in the last 10 years, holding the 60th spot this year with access to 85 destinations visa-free from 94th in 2015 with just 40.

Top 10 most powerful passports in the world in 2025