La 2024 list of Henley Passport Index had crowned the France - and five other countries - for the capacity of its passport to open the doors of the world. At the time, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Singaporean and Japanese passports gave access to 194 destinations around the world without a visa. Those days are gone, however, and with 195 destinations, the passport of Singapore is now dominating the debate. This is thanks to the return of its visa-free access to China, which had been blocked since the health crisis.
Only 22 of the world's 199 passports slipped in the Henley Passport Index rankings at the end of...
La 2024 list of Henley Passport Index had crowned the France - and five other countries - for the capacity of its passport to open the doors of the world. At the time, French, Italian, Spanish, German, Singaporean and Japanese passports gave access to 194 destinations around the world without a visa. Those days are gone, however, and with 195 destinations, the passport of Singapore is now dominating the debate. This is thanks to the return of its visa-free access to China, which had been blocked since the health crisis.
Only 22 of the world's 199 passports have fallen in the Henley Passport Index rankings over the past decade. Surprisingly, the United States is the second biggest loser between 2015 and 2025 after Venezuela.
Japan (193) is in second place. European destinations - including France, Germany, Spain and Italy - complete the podium (192). While the Top 10 is dominated by European countries, the major players in the business travel sector are also represented. Notably Australia (6th), Canada (7th) and the United States (9th). But the American passport is singled out as one of the report's poor performers. The authors of the report point out that: " Only 22 of the world's 199 passports have slipped in the Henley Passport Index rankings over the past decade. Surprisingly, the United States is the second biggest loser between 2015 and 2025 after Venezuela, dropping seven places from the current second to ninth position. Vanuatu is the third biggest loser, dropping six places from 48th to 54th, followed by the British passport, which topped the index in 2015 but is now in 5th place. Canada completes the list of five losers, dropping three places over the last decade from fourth to the current seventh position ".
For Annie Pforzheimer, Senior Associate at the thinktank Center for Strategic and International Studies, "even before the advent of a second Trump presidency, American political trends had become notably inward-looking and isolationist. Even though America's economic health relies heavily on immigration, tourism and trade, voters in the 2024 presidential campaign were fed a narrative that America can (and should) go it alone. Ultimately, if tariffs and deportations are the default policy tools of the Trump administration, not only will the US continue to decline in the mobility index on a comparative basis, it will also likely do so in absolute terms. This trend, coupled with China's greater openness, should enable Asia to further dominate soft power on a global scale. ".
China, which has recently shown increasing signs of opening up to the rest of the world, is one of the countries that has made the most progress over the last decade. Between 2015 and 2025, the Middle Kingdom climbed from 94th place to 60th, with the addition of forty visa-free destinations. In 2024 alone, 29 countries were added to the list of passports eligible for visa-free travel to China.
