Immediately 6 countries boast the strongest passports
Henley & Partners, which assesses the strength of passports, ranked 6 countries for the first time: 4 from Europe and 2 from Asia. The unrivalled leaders were: Germany, Italy, Spain, France, as well as Singapore and Japan. They can travel visa-free or under a simplified regime to 194 countries of the world.
This is a pretty strong change from Q3 2023, when Singapore held the top spot, with Germany, Italy and Spain just two countries behind, and France and Japan only in third place.
Similar changes have also affected other countries in the ranking. For example, Luxembourg, which ranked 3rd with visa-free travel in 189 countries, has now dropped to 4th position in the top. Although the number of countries with a simplified regime has increased to 191. The Grand Duchy of Austria, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands are slightly behind - they are allowed to enter 192 countries.
The final rating was formed as follows:
- France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Singapore (194 visa-free destinations)
- Finland, Sweden, South Korea (193)
- Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands (192)
- Luxembourg, Belgium, United Kingdom, Norway, Portugal (191)
- Greece, Malta, Switzerland (190)
In fact, the position in such a ranking is rather conditional. If we look at the number of countries available for visa-free travel, Luxembourg lags behind the champions by only 3 positions in the list. Can this be considered a valid reason to change passports? Hardly.