In spite of the fact that they are essentially just little stamp albums, passports are surprisingly effective documents. They can mean the difference between breezeing past border check, standing in line for hours, or being completely barred from entering a nation. And some of these modest little booklets will allow you entry into a much larger number of nations than others.
The Henley Passport Index, which uses information from the International Air Transport Association, assesses passports from 227 countries every three months depending on how many countries their people can travel without a visa.
How do UK passports fare, you ask? Following Brexit, the UK’s travel documents went into a six-year decline but finally things are looking up. As of the most recent passport index, Brits are now proud owners of the world’s fourth most powerful passport. Cool, eh?
UK passport holders can now visit 188 out of 227 locations looked at by Henley, including places that can be visited with no passport, by obtaining either a visa, a visitor’s permit or an electronic travel authority on arrival without the need for government approval.
The UK shares spot number four with Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands. Japan has been knocked from the number one spot for the first time in five years down to third place to join Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg and Sweden while Germany, Italy and Spain tied for second.
But the passport that reigns supreme? That would be Singapore, whose citizens are now able to visit 192 nations visa-free. Down at the bottom of the ratings was Afghanistan, where passport holders can only access 27 other countries visa-free.