by Mia Taylor
Last updated: 6:00 AM ET, Sat January 13, 2024
The passport you hold is a powerful tool when it comes to effortlessly visiting countries around the world.
And some passports provide far more access than others, according to the Henley Passport Index.
The just-released 2024 index shows that for the first time in 19 years of producing the ranking, six countries are tied for the top spot of having the most powerful passports.
The countries leading the ranking are France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain—meaning citizens from all of these countries are able to visit 194 destinations around the world either visa-free or by obtaining a visa-on-arrival.
The Henley Passport Index is the only ranking of its kind and is developed based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index compares 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.
While Japan and Singapore have made it into the number one slot for the past five years running, according to CNN, the European countries that are now also ranked number one on the list is a new development.
How Did the United States Rank?
A handful of countries also tied for the number two ranked spot on the powerful passport list. They included: Finland, South Korea, and Sweden.
Austria, Denmark, Ireland, and the Netherlands tied for the third slot, while Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, and the United Kingdom all come in fourth.
Where is the United States on the list, you ask? Those holding a U.S. passport will find that they have the seventh most powerful passport in the world for 2024.
U.S. passport holders rank behind citizens from Greece, Malta, and Switzerland, all of which came in fifth, and also behind the sixth place countries of Australia, Czechia, New Zealand, and Poland.
Possessing a U.S. passport allows for accessing 188 countries visa-free or via a visa-upon-arrival.
Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates shot up the ranking more than any other country during the past 10 years, per CNN. UAE has added 106 destinations to the selection of places its citizens can visit visa-free since 2014, which puts the country in 11th place for 2024.
Some of the countries that came in at the very bottom of the list, include Syria, in the 103rd spot and Afghanistan which ranked 104th. Passport holders from those two countries are able to access 29 and 28 countries respectively, visa-free or by obtaining a visa-upon-arrival.
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