The world's most powerful passports in 2025 revealed: US and UK slide down list dominated by European nations - but there's one clear winner

The world's most powerful passports for 2025 have been revealed - but the US and UK have slid down the list compared to last year. 

The global ranking indicates the number of countries citizens around the world can enter visa-free.

This year, Singapore boasts the most powerful passport in the world, with their citizens able to visit an astonishing 195 destinations out of 227 around the globe visa-free.

The British passport has slipped down from fourth to fifth place over the last year after being top of the index in 2015.

Its citizens - along with those from Belgium, New Zealand, Switzerland and Portugal - can visit 190 countries visa-free.

The US also fell in the ranking, from seventh to ninth place, with access to 186 countries visa-free. But it is still some way off its 2014 ranking, when it came joint first with the UK. 

Also on the index's losers list is Canada, which dropped three ranks over the past decade from fourth to its current seventh place. Australia maintained its position, in sixth place, with visa-free access to 189 countries. 

The list has been produced by the Henley Passport Index, which is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). It analyses how many countries a passport holder can enter without a prior visa.

The most recent study reveals that Japan has the world's second most powerful passport with visa-free access to 193 countries.

The populations of Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and South Korea (joint third) can all access 192 countries visa-free. Four of these countries - France, Germany, Italy, and Spain - dropped two places compared to last year's index.

A seven-nation EU cohort, all with visa-free access to 191 destinations - Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden - share the fourth place.

The rest of the index's Top 10 is largely dominated by EU countries, except for Australia, Canada, the US, and the UAE, one of the biggest climbers over the past decade, having secured an additional 72 destinations since 2015 to put it in 10th place with visa-free access to 185 destinations worldwide. 

Afghanistan remains entrenched at the bottom of the index, with a visa-free access score of just 26 (down from 28 last year), creating the largest mobility gap in the index's 19-year history, with Singaporeans able to travel to 169 more destinations visa-free than Afghan passport holders.

Christian Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners, said: 'The very notion of citizenship and its birthright lottery needs a fundamental rethink as temperatures rise, natural disasters become more frequent and severe, displacing communities and rendering their environments uninhabitable. 

'Simultaneously, political instability and armed conflicts in various regions force countless people to flee their homes in search of safety and refuge.' 

Afghanistan is followed by Syria (27), Iraq (31), Yemen (33), Pakistan (33) and Somalia (35), which together make up the six weakest passports in the world.

Palestinian Territory is slightly ahead with a visa-free access score of 40, ranking it joint 100th with Libya and Bangladesh.

In contrast, China is among the biggest climbers, ascending from 94th place in 2015 to 60th in 2025, with its visa-free score increasing by 40 destinations. 

The Henley Passport Index includes 199 passports, giving users extensive and reliable information about their global access and mobility. 

With historical data spanning 19 years and regularly updated expert analysis on the latest shifts in passport power, the index is an invaluable resource for global citizens and the standard reference tool for government policy in this field.