Top 20 Most Powerful Passports in 2021 According to Henley & Partners Ranking

With free entry into 192 countries, Japanese and Singaporean passports are the best passports in the world while Germany and South Korea take the second spot out of 116 in the world.

The latest outcome of research by a London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners (H&P) has revealed.

Most of the countries that made the top 20 ranked among the top 10 safest countries in the 2018 Global Peace Index.

H&P in the Passport Index based its research on the data made available to it by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) which was obtained by InfomediaNG Business Solutions.

The countries are based on visa-free score, that is the influence and the number of countries holders of such passports can gain entry into.

Iceland which is the safest country to travel to occupies the No. 12 position as the most powerful passport in the world, with a score of 180 while New Zealand which is the second safest country is in the 6th position alongside Belgium and Switzerland with 186 score.

The passport of the United States has 185 score, occupying the 7th position alongside the United Kingdom, Norway, Greece, Malta, and Czech Republic.

While the Taliban-controlled country of Afghanistan and four other war-ridden countries are the worst passports, Nigeria Passport is also one of the top 20 worst passports to hold in the world.

What Does This Mean?

With 192 score, holders of Japanese and Singaporean passports can travel to 192 foreign countries without the need for a travel visa. They only need a valid passport for entry and exit purposes.

Visa-free score Passport Rank
192 Japan, Singapore 1
190 Germany, South Korea 2
189 Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain 3
188 Australia, Denmark 4
187 France, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, and Sweden 5
186 Belgium, New Zealand, and Switzerland 6
185 Czech republic, Greece, Malta, Norway, United Kingdom, and the United States 7
184 Australia and Canada 8
183 Hungary 9
182 Slovakia, Poland, and Lithuania 10
181 Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia 11
180 Iceland 12
179 Malaysia 13
178 Liechtenstein 14
176 Cyprus 15
174 United Arab Emirate, Romania, Chile, and Monaco 16
173 Bulgaria 17
172 Croatia 18
171 Hong Kong 19
170 Brazil and Argentina 20

Henley & Partners covers 227 travel destinations in its travel index. The company has more than 30 offices spread across the world.

Featured Image credit:
  • Jaimie Harmsen on Unsplash

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.