The Belgian passport is in fourth place in the ranking of the most powerful passports in the world, according to the Henley Passport Index. It has risen from seventh, as from this year it gives visa-free access to more countries.
The Henley Passport Index is based on official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and ranks all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. This year, the Belgian passport gives access to 191 countries without requiring a visa in advance – sharing fourth place with Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal and the United Kingdom.
"The average number of destinations travellers can access visa-free has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024," said Christian H. Kaelin, Chair of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept.
"However, as we enter the new year, the top-ranked countries are now able to travel to a staggering 166 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan, which sits at the bottom of the ranking with access to just 28 countries without a visa," he said, adding that the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now "wider than ever."
Japan and Singapore have dominated first place on the index for the past five years, but they were now joined by four EU member states – France, Germany, Italy, and Spain – in boasting the most powerful passports in the world. Citizens of these six countries are able to visit 194 destinations out of 227 around the globe visa-free.
Credit: Belga/Dirk Waem
In second place, South Korea joined Finland and Sweden with visa-free travel to 193 destinations. Another four EU nations – Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands – shared third place with access to 192.
The rest of the top 10 is largely dominated by European countries, with the UK climbing up two ranks to fourth place with visa-free access to 191 destinations, compared to just 188 a year ago.
Australia and New Zealand passport holders both improved their ranking to sit in sixth place with 189 visa-free destinations, while the United States retained seventh place with access to 188 destinations without requiring a visa in advance. Strikingly, it has been a decade since the UK and the US jointly held first place on the index in 2014.
The least powerful passports in the world are Yemen (with visa-free access to just 35 destinations), Pakistan (34 destinations), Iraq (31 destinations), Syria (29 destinations) and Afghanistan (28 destinations).
Biggest climbers and fallers
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) remains the biggest climber on the Henley Passport Index over the past decade, adding 106 destinations to its visa-free score since 2014 and jumping 44 places in the ranking: from 55th to 11th position.
Ukraine and China are also among the top five countries with the most improved rankings over the past ten years, gaining 21 places each. Ukraine is now in 32nd place with 148 visa-free destinations, and China is 62nd on the ranking with access to 85 destinations without a prior visa.
"Checking and verifying travel documents more often than not needs to be performed manually. With the expected continued growth in air travel, this task needs to be automated to a much higher degree," said Frédéric Léger, IATA’s Senior Vice President of Commercial Products and Services.
