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Passports of different companies
Henley Passport Indexhas listed the most powerful passports in the world on Thursday.
HPI is a global passport-ranking website with an original, authoritative ranking of all the worlds passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a priorvisa.
Their index is often based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) “ the largest, most accurate travel information database “ and enhanced by Henley & Partners research team.
According to the passport ranking website, four European countries have moved up to share the top spot on the 2024 index.
Residents of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain now have visa-free access to 194 of 227 destinations, three more than last year.
South Korea, Sweden, and Finland all climbedone spot to take joint second place, with access to 193 locations. Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands shared third place, allowing travel to 192 places.
The U.K. now ranks joint fourth (access to 191 destinations), while the U.S. retained joint seventh place (188 destinations). A decade ago, the two countries shared the top spot. And comparing this years list to the 2014 ranking reveals some other major shifts.
A report by Times revealed that The United Arab Emirates was the fastest climberover the past decade, jumping to 11th place and offering access to 183 destinations without a visa. And China, up two spots this year to land in 62nd place, has visa-free access to 85 destinations - almost twice as many as 10 years ago.
It added that thechairman of immigration consultancy Henley & Partners, Dr. Christian Kaelin, said that while the general trend over the years had been toward greater travel freedom, the gap between those at either end of the list was wider than ever.
The average numberof destinations travelers are able to access visa-free has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024, he said.
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.
Recall that for the past five years, Singapore and Japan have boasted the worlds most powerful travel documents, granting their citizens access to more countries without a prior visa thananyoneelse.
This is the full list below:
