The world's most powerful passports in 2016: the Henley visa-free ranking

A passport is only as strong as the doors it opens. In 2016 the German passport opened the most — visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to 177 destinations — while the weakest passports let their holders reach barely a fifth of that. These are the rankings as of 2016; the order shifts a little every year.

The measure comes from the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index, the longest-running ranking of its kind. Each passport is scored by the number of destinations its holders can enter without arranging a visa in advance. Where a country grants entry on arrival, or issues an e-visa on simple terms — a fee, a return ticket, a hotel booking — that counts the same as full visa-free access. The 2016 edition scored passports against 218 destinations in total.

Having visa-free or visa-on-arrival access matters for more than convenience. It shortens the queue at a border, removes weeks of paperwork before a trip, and is a rough proxy for how much diplomatic trust a country's citizens are extended abroad. The index is a snapshot of that trust across nearly 200 nationalities.

The top of the 2016 table

Germany held the single most powerful passport in 2016, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 177 destinations. Sweden followed closely on 176. A five-way tie shared third place on 175 destinations each: Finland, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. Just behind, the United States, Denmark, Belgium and the Netherlands were level on 174.

What stands out is how narrow the gap is among the leaders — the top ten passports were separated by a handful of destinations. The strongest passports in the world clustered almost entirely in Europe, with the United States the only non-European nation in the leading group.

Nine of the ten strongest passports in 2016 were European; only the United States broke the pattern.

The bottom of the table

At the other end, travel freedom collapsed. Afghanistan sat at the foot of the 2016 index, with visa-free access to only around 25 destinations — roughly a seventh of what a German passport offered. Because the index is maintained online and adjusted through the year, published tallies for the very weakest passports varied slightly, but Afghanistan consistently ranked last.

Just above it came a cluster of countries affected by conflict or fractured diplomatic ties: Pakistan and Iraq near 29 to 30 destinations, then Somalia, Syria and Libya. The pattern is stark — no European nation appeared anywhere near the bottom of the list, while most of the weakest passports belonged to states in the Middle East and Africa.

A regional divide in mobility

Averaged out by region, the disparity is even clearer. A European passport opened, on average, about 146 destinations without a prior visa in 2016 — helped, but not fully explained, by the European Union's freedom-of-movement area. The average African passport reached roughly 53 destinations. That is a gulf of nearly a hundred destinations between the average traveller from the two regions.

The index also tracks change over time. Between 2013 and 2016 most countries saw their citizens' visa-free access widen, reflecting a slow, general loosening of travel restrictions worldwide. A minority moved the other way, and the countries that lost ground were concentrated in Africa — the only region to record a net decline over those years.

How to read a passport ranking

• The score counts destinations, not just sovereign states — territories with their own entry rules are included, which is why totals run above 200.
• Visa-on-arrival and simple e-visas are treated the same as full visa-free entry, so the figure measures ease of access, not the complete absence of any formality.
• Rankings move year to year as bilateral agreements are signed or suspended; a 2016 position is a snapshot, not a permanent standing.
• A second, separate index published by Arton Capital uses a different methodology, so its numbers do not line up one-to-one with Henley's.

Frequently asked questions