Not that it makes much difference to most travelers, since the passport you’ve got is the one you’ve got, but a world ranking of passport power—the number of countries the holder can visit without a visa—shows the biggest shift in years in the rankings.
The big news is that Japan, which has been in the #1 spot on the Henley Passport Index for the past five years with the most destinations has fallen into a third-place tie, with 189 destinations, down from 2022’s 193 and just a bit behind Singapore’s 192. Singapore, which was in a second-place tie with South Korea at 192 last year is now alone in first. South Korea, while Japan has lost three destinations.
Second place is shared by Germany, Italy, and Spain, while Japan’s third place is shared with South Korea, Austria, Finland, France and Luxembourg. The U.S. and the UK, which ten years ago jointly held the top spot are now #8 and #4 respectively. And, as it has been for many years, Afghanistan is at the bottom of the list of 227 countries, with a visa-free score of just 27 places.
