Having a valid passport guarantees being able to cross borders and travel more or less freely around the world. However, not all documents are the same nor do they open the door to the same countries. For 19 years, the international consultancy Henley
The list, based on exclusive data from IATA (the International Air Transport Association), analyzes a total of 199 passports and their ease of travel to 227 countries on five continents. Their results show a large gap between the most powerful -those with more than 190 states-, which include rich countries, and those that open fewer doors to the outside world. This last group coincides with those who register lower income levels, located in unstable areas of the planet, which give access to only thirty countries.
This is the first edition in almost two decades in which six countries come to the top of this unique ranking. These are (in alphabetical order) Germany, Spain. France, Italy, Japan and Singapore, whose citizens can travel to 194 countries. It is also significant that, of the six, four belong to the European Union. And, in the last five years, Japan and Singapore had been alternating the first two positions.
With access to 193 countries are South Korea, Finland and Sweden, followed closely by four more European passports: those of Austria, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands, with 192. The United Kingdom and the United States, for their part , which a decade ago had the most powerful passports on the planet, this time they have to settle for the fourth and seventh, with visa-free access to 191 and 188 countries respectively.
In these ten years, the country that has experienced the most pronounced rise in the index is the United Arab Emirates, which added 106 new visa-free destinations (going from 67 to 183).
Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, in 13th position and 179 countries, are the three states of the European Union with the most limited access. Other Old Continent territories with the weakest documents are Albania (123), the Vatican (157), Andorra (171), San Marino (172), and Monaco (178).
At the bottom of the global list for 2024 is Afghanistan once again, with 28 destinations to which you can travel with only your passport. It is preceded by Syria (29), Iraq (31), Pakistan (34), Yemen (35) and Somalia (36). Palestine, Nepal and Libya, with a passport with access to 40 countries, and North Korea and Bangladesh, with 42, complete the list of the least accessible.
The good news that emerges from the list is that, during these almost two decades, the ability to travel around the world with fewer restrictions has increased considerably. According to historical data from the Henley Passport Index, a person could visit 56 countries on average in 2006 without needing to purchase a visa in advance, a figure that has almost doubled in 2024, rising to 111.
