The world's most powerful passports revealed – and it's not the UK | Travel News

The world’s most powerful passport for 2025 has been revealed and the UK finds itself in fifth place.

It fell one place from fourth place in 2024.

THE Henley Passport Index has shared its final list of the most powerful passports for 2025.

It included 199 different global passports and 227 travel destinations.

How it works is that the index compares the visa-free access of 199 passports to destinations.

If no visa is required, the passport has a value of one.

The same applies to whether you can obtain a visa on arrival (VOA), visitor permit or electronic travel authorization (ETA) when entering the destination.

However, if a visa is required or a passport holder must obtain a government-approved e-visa before departure, they are assigned a score with a value of zero.

This also applies if you need government approval before departure for a visa on arrival.

After gathering all the data, the world’s most powerful passport for 2025 is Singapore, for the second year in a row, with access to 195 countries.

It is closely followed by Japan, in second place (193), and a number of countries in third place, which have visa-free access to 192.

These include Finland, France, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Spain.

The United Kingdom finds itself in fifth place, with visa-free access to 190 different destinations.

The United Kingdom comes in fifth place, alongside Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal and Switzerland.

At the other end of the global passport rankings, at 106th place are Afghanistan (26th), Syria at 105th (27), Iraq at 104th (31), and Pakistan and Yemen at 103rd place with access to 33 countries without a visa.

When traveling with a British passport, destinations for which a visa or e-visa is required include Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Republic of Congo and Ivory Coast. , Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, India, Iran, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Papua New Guinea, RussiaSouth Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uganda and Yemen.

The most powerful passports in the world 2025

Singapore – 1st – 195
Japan – 2nd – 193
Finland – 3rd – 192
France – 3rd – 192
Germany – 3rd – 192
Italy – 3rd – 192
South Korea – 3rd – 192
Spain – 3rd – 192
Austria – 4th – 191
Denmark – 4th – 191
Ireland – 4th – 191
Luxembourg – 4th – 191
Netherlands – 4th – 191
Norway – 4th – 191
Sweden – 4th – 191
Belgium – 5th – 190
New Zealand – 5th – 190
Portugal – 5th – 190
Switzerland – 5th – 190
United Kingdom – 5th – 190

You can compare your passport and see the full list here.