The 2024 rankings for the world's most powerful passports have been unveiled, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) retaining the top position for the fourth consecutive year. 

The rankings reflect the number of countries citizens can enter without a visa. UAE passport holders enjoy access to over 90% of the world, with visa-free entry to 133 countries and visa-on-arrival options for 47 others, earning a mobility score of 180.

The top 20 was dominated by European nations, with 19 of the most powerful passports in the world originating from European nations.

Germany lost ground to Spain as the world's second most powerful passport, with Finland coming in third. The G20 countries' strongest passport, however, was France (4th).

With a mobility score of 174, the UK fell 10 spots to 32nd position this year, trailing only Singapore, Malta, Canada, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, and Australia.

A total of 49 nations require a visa upon arrival, whereas 125 countries allow UK passport holders to travel without one.

The USA also fell, trailing behind the UK in 38th place, where its citizens can visit 123 countries without a visa and 50 by gaining a visa on arrival.

According to MailOnline, Arton Capital, which produced the ranking, said in a statement: "With the new Trump administration incoming, it remains to be seen what steps the U.S will take to stop the downgrade of its once-great passport. Currently the weakest passport in the G7 group of nations, Trump’s incoming administration has all the motivations to make the U.S passport great again."

Arton Capital's website also states: "Passports of the world are sorted by their Mobility Score (MS), which includes visa-free, visa on arrival, eTA and eVisa if the country issued less than three working days. The higher the MS score, the better global mobility its passport holder enjoys.

"If the countries have the same MS their ordered by visa-free, visa on arrival, eTA they have, The more visa-free the highest position in the same MS they have. You can filter the GPPR by region, union, continent and type of passports and compare the MS for up to four passports."

European passports were overall the best ranked and nearly all countries in the Balkans experienced growth in their mobility this year.

Kosovo also stood out this year as it gained an impressive 35 points in its mobility score, mainly due to the country joining the Schengen zone at the start of 2024.

The least powerful passport in the world was secured by Syria, which has a mobility score of 40 and requires a visa in 158 countries.