Singapore has replaced Japan as the most powerful passport among all passports in the world, as it allows visa-free access to as many as 192 global destinations, according to the latest ranking published by Henley Passport Index, released on Tuesday.

In the latest ranking, Japan, which was in the top spot for the last five years, dropped to third, with visa-free access to 189 nations around the world. It shares its position with AustriaFinlandFranceLuxembourg, South Korea and Sweden.

India, on the other hand, improved its position by 5 spots from last year, and is currently ranked 80th on the index along with Togo and Senegal, with visa-free access to 57 countries.

The US, which once topped the ranking nearly a decade ago, slid two places to eighth place. The UK, after a Brexit-induced slump, jumped two places to fourth, a position it last held in 2017.

At the bottom of the list is Afghanistan with easy access to 27 destinations. Yemen (99), Pakistan (100), Syria (101) and Iraq (102) round up the bottom five.

Passports of these countries hold the top 10 spots on the Henley Index:

Rank Country Visa-free travel to (out of 277 nations)
1 Singapore 192
2 Germany, Italy, Spain 190
3 Austria, Finland, France, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Sweden 189
4 Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, UK 188
5 Belgium, Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland 187
6 Australia, Hungary, Poland 186
7 Canada, Greece 185
8 Lithuania, US 184
9 Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia 183
10 Estonia, Iceland 182

Passports of these countries hold the bottom 10 spots on the Henley Index:

 

Rank Country Visa-free travel to (out of 277 nations)
103 Afghanistan 27
102 Iraq 29
101 Syria 30
100 Pakistan 33
99 Yemen, Somalia 35
98 Palestinian territory, Nepal 38
97 North Korea 39
96 Bangladesh 40
95 Sri Lanka, Libya 41
94 Kosovo 42

 

Invented nearly 20 years ago by Dr Christian H Kaelin, Chairman, Henley & Partners, the index is based on the exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). It is the original ranking of all the passports according to the number of destinations their holders can visit without a prior visa.