The World's Passport Ranking Had Some Big Changes & Here's Where Canada Comes In
The world's most powerful passport went to a new country!
A person holds a Canadian passport.
The world's most powerful passports were shaken up in the latest passport ranking for 2023, and Canada's passport moved up on the list this year, beating the U.S. passport.
Henley & Partners has just released its latest list of the top passports in the world, and a new country has secured the spot of the world's most powerful passport.
H&P's Passport Index is a ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa (meaning the country either requires no visa or that one can be obtained on arrival). The latest ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association, according to a press release.
In the 2023 Passport Index, Singapore is now officially the most powerful passport in the world, with the country's citizens able to visit 192 travel destinations visa-free out of the 227 across the globe.
This is a major changeup from previous years. For five years, Japan was the country with the most powerful passport in the world, giving holders access to 193 destinations without a visa.
Now, Japan has fallen to third place, giving passport holders access to 189 countries and tying with Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Sweden and South Korea.
Just behind Singapore, Italy, Germany and Spain tied for the second most powerful passports, with the documents giving holders visa-free access to 190 countries.
How powerful is Canada's passport in 2023?
Canada's passport also saw a change from the last ranking released by Henley and Partners. In the last index, the Canadian passport came in eighth place on the list, giving passport holders access to 185 destinations visa-free.
While the number of destinations hasn't changed, the passport has moved up to rank at seventh most powerful in the world, tied only with Greece.
However, it's worth noting that while Canada's passport remains stagnant, other countries are getting stronger. In the 2022 ranking, Canada tied for eighth alongside the Czech Republic, Greece, Malta and Australia, with each country's passport giving residents access to 185 destinations.
In this index, many of these countries have advanced, with Australia now in sixth place with 186 countries, and Malta and the Czech Republic now in fifth place with access to 187 countries.
Notably, Canada's passport did advance to become more powerful than the U.S. passport, which formerly was the seventh most powerful in the world but dipped down to eighth place in the latest ranking.
What are the 10 most powerful passports?
If you want to know how your passport stacks up, here are the top 10 most powerful passports in the world, based on Henley & Partner's latest ranking, and how many countries holders can travel to visa-free.
- Singapore, 192
- Germany, Italy, Spain, 190
- Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Sweden, South Korea, Japan, 189
- Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, U.K., 188
- Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, 187
- Australia, Hungary, Poland, 186
- Canada, Greece, 185
- Lithuania, United States, 184
- Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia, 183
- Estonia, Iceland, 182
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