REVEALED! World’s most powerful passports for 2019

The world’s most powerful passport in the third quarter of 2019 is Japan and Singapore’s passport, according to the Henley Passport Index, with citizens enjoying visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 189 destinations across the world.

Finland, Germany and South Korea jointly hold the second position on the list with access to 187 destinations around the globe while Denmark, Italy and Luxembourg are in the third place, with visa-free access to 186 destinations.

Australian passport ranks ninth on the list with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 180 countries.

Afghanistan remains at the bottom of the global mobility spectrum, with its citizens able to access only 25 destinations worldwide without a prior visa.

The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information.

World’s Most Powerful Passports

1. Japan, Singapore (189 countries)

2. Finland, Germany, South Korea (187 countries)

3. Denmark, Italy, Luxembourg (186 countries)

4. France, Spain, Sweden (185 countries)

5. Austria, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland (184 countries)

6. Belgium, Canada, Greece, Ireland, Norway, United Kingdom, United States (183 countries)

7. Malta (182 countries)

8. Czech Republic (181 countries)

9. Australia, Iceland, Lithuania, New Zealand (180 countries)

World’s weakest passports

1. Afghanistan (25 countries)

2. Iraq (27 countries)

3. Syria (29 countries)

4. Pakistan (30 countries)

5. Somalia (31 countries)

“With a few notable exceptions, the latest rankings from the Henley Passport Index show that countries around the world increasingly view visa-openness as crucial to economic and social progress. Discussions of passport power and global mobility tend to focus on the benefits for the countries with the strongest passports. However, this latest unique research appears to confirm something that many of us already knew intuitively: that increased visa-openness benefits the entire global community, and not just the strongest countries,” Dr Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Partners and the creator of the passport index concept, said.