We all love the smell of a freshly printed passport just waiting to be stamped within an inch of its life. But if you want to know what it feels like to hold the most powerful passport on earth, you’ll have to ask someone from Japan.
According to the latest Henley Passport Index, which ranks passports around the world according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa, a Japanese passport opens more doors than any other worldwide.
In an extremely strong showing for East Asia, Japan finished on top with a visa-free or visa-on-arrival rating of 193 destinations, while Singapore and South Korea were tied for second place with a score of 192.
Meanwhile, the U.K. passport, with 187 destinations — despite Brexit — has only dropped down one place in the rankings from fifth to sixth, joining what sounds like a World Cup group of death alongside France, Ireland and Portugal.
That places the U.K. just one spot above the United States’ passport, in seventh spot, alongside Belgium, New Zealand, Norway and Switzerland, whose passports were found to have access to 186 destinations for visa-free travel.
There was a lot of high scoring for European nations, which formed the bulk of the top 10. Germany and Spain (190 destinations each), Finland, Italy and Luxembourg (189 destinations) and Austria Denmark, The Netherlands and Sweden (188 destinations) filled out third to fifth place respectively.
There was also a move up the rankings for the Ukrainian passport which was ranked in 35th place after the EU granted its citizens the right to live and work in the bloc for up to three years. It now permits visa-free access to 144 destinations.
Researchers for the index did not take temporary airspace closures to Russian citizens into account following the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The Russian Federation’s passport is ranked in 50th position, even if most Russians are unable to visit a good chunk of the passport’s 119 possible destinations.
Further down the list, North Korea finds itself in 105th, well among the worst passports to own. North Korean citizens have the right to visit just 40 destinations without a visa.
Yemen (34 destinations), Pakistan (32), Syria (30), Iraq (29) and lastly Afghanistan, whose passport only allows visa-less travel to 27 destinations, round off the end of the index, making them the five most ungenerous passports on the planet.
The most powerful passports in summer 2022:
1. Japan (193 destinations)
2. Singapore, South Korea (192 destinations)
3. Germany, Spain (190 destinations)
4. Finland, Italy, Luxembourg (189 destinations)
5. Austria, Denmark, Netherlands, Sweden (188 destinations)
6. France, Ireland, Portugal, U.K. (187 destinations)
7. Belgium, New Zealand, Norway, Switzerland, U.S. (186 destinations)
8. Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Greece, Malta (185 destinations)
9. Hungary (183 destinations)
10. Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia (182 destinations)
Featured image by BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP via Getty Images.