In 2006, a United States passport was the last word ticket to the world, providing its residents a stage of world entry matched solely by two different nations: Denmark and Finland.

What a distinction 20 years makes. Because the Henley Passport Index reveals in its newly launched Twentieth-anniversary report, the worldwide rating of journey freedom now seems fully totally different.

The index, which displays the journey freedoms provided by passports all over the world primarily based on the variety of locations their holders can go to visa-free or visa-on-demand, exhibits that U.S. journey paperwork are now not among the many strongest.

As we speak the USA is in tenth place however, as a result of Henley counts a number of international locations with the identical rating as a single spot in its standings, in actuality meaning 36 international locations are ranked forward of it.

Denmark and Finland are actually at No. 4, behind 5 different international locations.

“Twenty years of knowledge present that passport energy is without doubt one of the clearest expressions of a rustic’s geopolitical capital,” stated Christian H. Kaelin, chair of the London-based world citizenship and residence advisory agency Henley & Companions and creator of the Henley Passport Index.

“The world’s strongest passports belong to nations that different international locations need as companions — for commerce, funding, safety, or cooperation. Mobility is in the end a measure of the worth different international locations place on their relationship with you.”

Geopolitical capital

The world’s “strongest” passport of July 2026 is Singapore’s, which lets its holders breeze visa-free into 192 locations worldwide, 70 greater than was potential in 2006.

The United Arab Emirates, nonetheless, is the largest success story within the rating, each for 2026 and for its meteoric rise all through the twenty first century.

The finance and tourism hub has climbed the leaderboard this 12 months to No. 2, the place it holds the rating alongside the East Asian international locations of Japan and South Korea. Residents of all three international locations take pleasure in visa-free entry to a complete of 188 locations worldwide.

In comparison with 20 years in the past, that’s an addition of 60 locations for Japan, 73 extra for South Korea, and an astounding 153 new locations for the UAE.

The No. 3 spot is held by Sweden, with a rating of 187. Again in 2006, it was the No. 2 passport on the earth, with a rating of 129.

The No. 4 spot for July 2026 is shared by Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Eire, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Spain (all with a rating of 186).

Malta has climbed as much as a rating of 185, placing it within the No. 5 spot alongside Austria, Greece, Portugal and Switzerland. Again in 2006, Malta was exterior the highest 10, in eleventh place on the rating.

Europe’s excessive climbers

At No. 6, we’ve got Hungary (up from No. 19 in 2006), Poland (up from No.16 in 2006) and the UK (down from No.3 in 2006).

Eight international locations are in place No. 7: Latvia (up from No.26 in 2006), Slovakia (up from No.22 in 2006), Czech Republic (up from No. 21 in 2006), Slovenia (up from No. 17 in 2006), Australia and Malaysia (each up from No.9 in 2006) and Canada and New Zealand (each down from No. 6 in 2006).

Place No. 8 is held by a few European high-climbers, which have recovered effectively from turbulent Twentieth-century histories: Croatia (which has risen 20 locations in 20 years) and Estonia (which has risen 18).

At No. 9, Lithuania has climbed 15 locations in 20 years and Liechtenstein has climbed one.

Whereas the USA is in joint tenth place, alongside Iceland, it now has visa-free entry to 180 locations worldwide — which is a major improve on the 130 locations open to its passport holders in 2006.

Mobility hole

Previously 20 years, the hole between the world’s most and least cellular residents has widened sharply, the report notes. There’s a 118-destination hole between Singapore, on the high of the index, and Afghanistan, which was on the backside of the index in 2006 and stays there at this time.

20 years in the past, Afghanistan had visa-free entry to only 12 locations, a quantity it has doubled to 22 locations at this time.

Bolivia (at No.77) is the one passport on the earth to have recorded a web loss in visa-free entry over the previous 20 years, decreasing its rating by six locations. Each different passport has improved in world mobility.

The Henley & Companions report attracts comparability between its personal rankings and the International Peace Index, which additionally marks its Twentieth version this 12 months. In line with the index from the Institute for Economics & Peace, the world is experiencing the best variety of state-based conflicts since World Conflict II and world peacefulness has been declining for 12 consecutive years.

Peace and energy

Henley & Companions says its new evaluation evaluating the 2 indexes reveals a robust constructive relationship between peacefulness and passport energy.

“Most of the world’s most peaceable international locations additionally maintain the world’s strongest passports,” its report notes. Singapore ranks eighth on the International Peace Index and first on the Henley Passport Index, “whereas Japan, Switzerland, Eire, Austria, Portugal, Finland, Denmark, New Zealand, Canada, Czechia, and Malaysia all characteristic among the many world leaders on each indices.”

Then there are the statistical outliers, akin to the USA (No.10 on the Henley Passport Index and 134th on the International Peace Index) and Israel (No. 18 on the Henley Passport Index and 149th on the International Peace Index).

Their positions replicate many years of accrued diplomatic capital, geopolitical affect, financial significance, and worldwide confidence within the integrity of their establishments and journey paperwork,” says the Henley & Companions report.

“At a time when tensions with Iran and instability throughout the Center East as soon as once more dominate headlines, their mobility energy illustrates that passport energy is formed by way over peacefulness alone.”

Different indexes

The Henley checklist is one in all a number of indexes created by monetary companies to rank world passports in accordance with the entry they supply to their residents.

Arton Capital’s Passport Index takes into consideration the passports of 193 United Nations member international locations and 6 territories — Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong, Kosovo, the Palestinian territories and the Vatican. Territories annexed to different international locations are excluded.

It’s additionally up to date in real-time all year long and its information is gathered by shut monitoring of particular person governments’ portals.

Arton’s International Passport Energy Rank 2026 places the United Arab Emirates within the high spot, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival rating of 182. Second place is held by France and Spain, every with a rating of 175.

The world’s strongest passports for 2026

• Singapore (192 locations)
• Japan, South Korea, United Arab Emirates (188)
• Sweden (187)
• Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Eire, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain (186)
• Austria, Greece, Malta, Portugal, Switzerland (185)
• Hungary, Poland, United Kingdom (184)
• Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Latvia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Slovakia, Slovenia (183)
• Croatia, Estonia (182)
• Liechtenstein, Lithuania (181)
• Iceland, United States (180)