Japan has topped the list of the world’s most powerful passports for the fifth year in a row. Japanese citizens enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 193 countries -- or 85% of the world -- making the Japanese passport the most powerful in the world.
According to the latest report by Henley Passport Index, which uses data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Japan is followed by Singapore and South Korea on the list of the world’s most powerful passports for 2023. Citizens of these two countries can travel freely to 192 countries across the world.
The Henley Passport Index places three Asian countries ahead of Europe and the US when it comes to global travel freedom. Below Japan, Singapore and South Korea on the passport index come Germany and Spain, whose citizens can visit 190 countries.
Finland, Italy, Luxembourg citizens enjoy visa-on-arrival or visa-free access to 189 countries.
India is ranked 85th on the Henley Passport Index. Indians have visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 59 countries, including Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Egypt.
At the bottom of the index is Afghanistan, whose citizens can freely visit 27 countries. Iraq and Syria were ranked the second and third worst passports to hold respectively.
"At the bottom of the ranking, the Afghanistan passport provides visa-free access to only 12% of the world and less than 1% of global economic output," Henley & Partners, a London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm, noted on its website.
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