The Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of countries according to the travel freedom of holders of their ordinary – as opposed to diplomatic – passport holders.^[1] It started in 2006 as Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index (HVRI)^[2] and was modified and renamed in January 2018.^[3][4] The site provides a ranking for 199 passports of the world according to the number of countries their holders can travel to visa-free. The number of countries that a specific passport can access becomes its visa-free 'score'. In collaboration with the International Air Transport Association (IATA), and based on official data from their global database^[5] Henley & Partners has analysed the visa regulations of the vast majority of the countries and territories in the world since 2006.^[6]

2021 Henley Passport Index

2021 rank[7]	Passport issuing country	Visa-free destinations
1	Japan	192
	Singapore	192
3	Germany	190
	South Korea	190
5	Finland	189
	Italy	189
	Luxembourg	189
	Spain	189
9	Austria	188
	Denmark	188
11	France	187
	Ireland	187
	Netherlands	187
	Portugal	187
	Sweden	187
16	Belgium	186
	New Zealand	186
	Switzerland	186
19	Czech Republic	185
	Greece	185
	Malta	185
	Norway	185
	United Kingdom	185
	United States	185
25	Australia	184
	Canada	184
27	Hungary	183
28	Lithuania	182
	Poland	182
	Slovakia	182
31	Estonia	181
	Latvia	181
	Slovenia	181
34	Iceland	180
35	Malaysia	179
36	Liechtenstein	178
37	Cyprus	176
38	Chile	174
	Monaco	174
	Romania	174
	United Arab Emirates	174
42	Bulgaria	173
43	Croatia	172
44	Hong Kong	171
45	Argentina	170
	Brazil	170
47	San Marino	169
	Andorra	168
49	Brunei	166
50	Barbados	161
51	Israel	158
	Mexico	158
53	Saint Kitts and Nevis	157
54	Bahamas	155
55	Uruguay	153
	Vatican City	153
57	Seychelles	152
58	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	151
59	Antigua and Barbuda	150
	Trinidad and Tobago	150
61	Costa Rica	149
62	Mauritius	146
	Saint Lucia	146
64	Taiwan	145
65	Grenada	144
	Macau	144
67	Dominica	143
68	Panama	141
	Paraguay	141
70	Ukraine	136
71	Serbia	135
	Vanuatu	135
73	Peru	134
74	El Salvador	133
75	Guatemala	132
	Honduras	132
77	Samoa	131
	Solomon Islands	131
79	Colombia	129
	Tonga	129
	Venezuela	129
82	Tuvalu	127
83	Nicaragua	126
84	North Macedonia	125
85	Kiribati	123
	Montenegro	123
87	Marshall Islands	122
88	Moldova	120
89	Palau	119
90	Russia	118
91	Micronesia	117
92	Bosnia and Herzegovina	116
93	Georgia	115
94	Albania	113
95	Turkey	110
96	South Africa	103
97	Belize	101
98	Qatar	97
99	Kuwait	95
100	East Timor	93
101	Ecuador	91
102	Nauru	89
103	Fiji	88
104	Guyana	87
	Maldives	87
106	Botswana	86
107	Jamaica	85
108	Bahrain	84
109	Papua New Guinea	82
110	Oman	80
111	Bolivia	79
	China	79
	Saudi Arabia	79
	Thailand	79
115	Belarus	78
	Namibia	78
117	Lesotho	77
	Suriname	77
119	Kazakhstan	74
	Eswatini	74
121	Malawi	73
122	Kenya	72
	Tanzania	72
124	Indonesia	71
	Tunisia	71
	Zambia	71
127	Dominican Republic	69
128	Azerbaijan	68
	Gambia	68
130	Uganda	67
131	Cape Verde	66
132	Philippines	65
	Zimbabwe	65
134	Armenia	64
	Ghana	64
136	Cuba	63
	Morocco	63
	Sierra Leone	63
139	Kyrgyzstan	62
	Mozambique	62
141	Benin	61
	Mongolia	61
	Rwanda	61
144	São Tomé and Príncipe	60
145	Mauritania	59
146	Burkina Faso	58
	India	58
	Tajikistan	58
149	Gabon	57
150	Ivory Coast	56
	Senegal	56
	Uzbekistan	56
153	Equatorial Guinea	55
	Madagascar	55
155	Guinea	54
	Mali	54
	Togo	54
158	Cambodia	53
	Chad	53
	Comoros	53
	Niger	53
	Vietnam	53
163	Algeria	52
	Bhutan	52
	Central African Republic	52
	Guinea-Bissau	52
	Turkmenistan	52
168	Burundi	51
	Egypt	51
170	Angola	50
	Cameroon	50
	Jordan	50
173	Laos	49
	Liberia	49
175	Congo	48
	Haiti	48
177	Djibouti	47
178	Myanmar	46
179	Ethiopia	45
	Nigeria	45
181	South Sudan	44
182	Eritrea	43
183	DR Congo	42
184	Iran	41
	Lebanon	41
	Sri Lanka	41
	Sudan	41
188	Bangladesh	40
	Kosovo	40
	Libya	40
191	North Korea	39
192	Nepal	37
	Palestine	37
194	Somalia	34
195	Yemen	33
196	Pakistan	31
197	Syria	29
198	Iraq	28
199	Afghanistan	26

Definition of the Index

The Henley Passport index (HPI) ranks passports according to how many destinations can be reached using a particular country's ordinary passport without requiring a visa ('visa-free'). All distinct destination countries and territories in the IATA database are considered. However, since not all territories issue passports, there are far fewer passports ranked than destinations against which queries are made.^[8]

Methodology

To determine the score for each country or territory,^[9] its passport is checked against the IATA database in several steps:

1. Each of the 199 passports on the list, is checked against all 227 possible travel destinations for which travel restriction information exists in the IATA database. The score is updated throughout the year as conditions change.

2. Each query must satisfy certain conditions:

• passport is issued in the country of nationality
• passport holder is an adult citizen of the country which issued the passport and a lone traveller, not part of a tourist group
• entry is sought for tourism or business
• the stay is a minimum of three days

3. Further conditions include:

• queries are made only for holders of normal passports rather than diplomatic, service, emergency, or temporary passports and other travel documents are disregarded
• passport holders do not meet any complex requirements for entry (for example, possessing a government-issued letter, translations, or empty pages)
• passport holders have all necessary vaccinations and certificates;
• passport holders are arriving at and departing from the same airport
• passport holders are seeking a short stay rather than a transit
• the port of entry is a major city or capital, in cases where this is required
• requirements by the destination country or territory regarding a particular length of validity of passports are disregarded
• passport holders meet all basic requirements for entry (for example, holding a hotel reservation or having proof of sufficient funds or return tickets)
• advance passenger information and advance approval to board are not considered to be a visa requirement or travel restriction, neither is the requirement to pay airport tax

It is assumed that the visa policies of Greenland and the Faroe Islands are identical to Denmark.

4. If no visa is required for passport holders from a particular country or territory to enter the destination, then that passport scores 1. [The passport also scores 1 if a visa on arrival, a visitor's permit, or an electronic travel authority (ETA) can be obtained because they do not require pre-departure government approval, perhaps because of specific visa-waiver programs in place.]

5. Where visas are needed, or where passport holders have to get government-approved electronic visas (e-Visas) before departure, a score of 0 is given. If passport holders must get government approval before leaving in order to obtain a visa on arrival, this also scores 0.

6. The score for each particular passport is then totalled by adding up its scores for all destinations.^[10]

2021 results

As of 2021, a Japanese and Singaporean passport offers its holders visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to a total of 192 countries, and a South Korean and German passports each offering 190 visa-free or visa-on-arrival countries to their holders.^[7]

An Afghan passport has once again been labelled by the index as the least powerful passport in the world, with its nationals only able to visit 26 destinations visa-free.^[11]

2006–2015

European countries are notable for their stability over the past decade, and Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain, and Sweden all remain in exactly the same position as 10 years before. The 'Top 10s' were almost identical, with 30 countries in 2015, compared to 26 a decade before. While Liechtenstein dropped, the Czech Republic, Finland, Hungary, Malta, Slovakia, and South Korea all made it into the top 10.

Taiwan, Albania, the United Arab Emirates, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia all moved up more than 20 places in the Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index over the period, while the biggest drops were experienced by Guinea (−32), Liberia (−33), Sierra Leone (−35), and Bolivia (−37).

Older rankings

In the table below, the "access" columns denote the number of visa-free destinations for holders of that passport. Unless indicated otherwise, the data in this table is taken from these^[7][12] sources.

Country	2020 Rank	2020 Access	2019 Rank	2010 Rank	2006 Rank
Japan	1	191	1	6	3
Singapore	2	190	1	11	8
Germany	3	189	2	5	2
South Korea	3	189	2	13	11
Finland	4	188	2	4	1
Italy	4	188	3	5	3
Luxembourg	4	188	3	4	3
Spain	4	188	4	6	4
Austria	5	187	5	8	6
Denmark	5	187	3	2	1
France	6	186	4	5	3
Ireland	6	186	6	7	2
Netherlands	6	186	5	5	5
Portugal	6	186	5	8	7
Sweden	6	186	4	3	2
Belgium	7	185	6	6	4
Switzerland	7	185	6	10	4
Norway	7	185	6	7	4
United Kingdom	7	185	6	1	3
United States	7	185	6	7	1
Czech Republic	8	184	7	18	21
Greece	8	184	6	12	9
Malta	8	184	7	15	11
New Zealand	8	184	8	9	6
Australia	9	183	9	9	9
Canada	9	183	6	9	6
Hungary	10	182	10	18	19
Lithuania	11	181	9	19	24
Poland	11	181	13	16	16
Slovakia	11	181	9	17	22
Iceland	12	180	10	13	9
Latvia	12	180	10	20	26
Slovenia	12	180	10	17	17
Estonia	13	179	11	19	26
Liechtenstein	14	178	12	14	10
Malaysia	14	178	12	13	9
Monaco	15	175	14	21	15
Chile	16	174	13	27	14
Cyprus	16	174	14	18	12
Romania	17	172	16	22	34
Bulgaria	18	171	17	25	29
Argentina	19	170	17	26	19
Brazil	19	170	17	28	20
Croatia	19	170	18	35	28
Hong Kong	19	170	18	19	13
United Arab Emirates	19	170	15	65	62
San Marino	20	168	19	23	14
Andorra	21	167	20	27	20
Brunei	22	166	21	24	19
Barbados	23	161	22	29	35
Israel	24	160	22	25	18
Mexico	25	159	23	32	21
Saint Kitts and Nevis	26	156	24	31	40
Bahamas	27	155	24	30	35
Uruguay	28	153	25	34	20
Antigua and Barbuda	29	151	28	33	39
Seychelles	29	151	26	39	46
Costa Rica	30	150	27	37	23
Trinidad and Tobago	30	150	29	45	36
Vatican City	31	149	29	39
Mauritius	32	148	30	40	46
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	32	148	31	47	38
Saint Lucia	33	146	31	46	39
Taiwan	33	146	31	69	55
Macau	34	144	33	44	35
Grenada	35	143	32	49	41
Paraguay	36	142	32	39	30
Panama	37	141	34	41	30
Dominica	38	140	35	51	46
Peru	39	135	36	58	56
El Salvador	40	134	37	42	31
Honduras	40	134	37	42	32
Serbia	40	134	39	47	64
Guatemala	41	133	38	42	30
Samoa	42	131	39	53	49
Solomon Islands	42	131	40	52	44
Vanuatu	43	130	40	55	51
Nicaragua	44	129	41	43	33
Ukraine	44	129	43	65	64
Venezuela	44	129	38	36	25
Colombia	45	127	43	73	64
Tuvalu	45	127	42	54	48
Tonga	46	125	44	57	52
Montenegro	47	124	46	48
North Macedonia	47	124	45	46
Kiribati	48	122	46	56	49
Marshall Islands	48	122	46	66	61
Moldova	49	120	47	66
Palau	50	119	47	70
Micronesia	51	118	47	69
Russia	51	118	48	49	62
Bosnia and Herzegovina	52	117	49	74	71
Georgia	53	116	50	72	68
Albania	54	114	51	78	79
Turkey	55	111	52	46	46
Belize	56	101	54	50	42
South Africa	56	101	53	47	37
Kuwait	57	95	56	58	58
Qatar	57	95	57	63	60
East Timor	57	95	55	85
Ecuador	58	91	58	64	56
Nauru	59	89	60	56	54
Fiji	60	88	59	57	51
Guyana	60	88	60	57	45
Jamaica	61	86	61	56	45
Botswana	62	85	62	60	50
Maldives	62	85	61	56	52
Papua New Guinea	63	84	62	59	56
Bahrain	64	82	63	62	59
Oman	65	79	64	68	61
Bolivia	66	78	65	67	29
Suriname	66	78	65	66	57
Thailand	66	78	66	69	67
Namibia	67	77	67	62	56
Saudi Arabia	67	77	69	71	65
Kazakhstan	68	76	68	73	68
Belarus	69	75	67	72	64
Lesotho	69	75	69	64	47
China	70	74	72	88	78
Eswatini	70	74	70	65	52
Malawi	71	73	71	64	50
Kenya	72	72	72	64	52
Indonesia	73	71	73	84	67
Tanzania	73	71	75	68	56
Zambia	73	71	73	65	53
Tunisia	74	69	75	67	59
Gambia	75	68	74	61	45
Azerbaijan	76	67	76	76	68
Philippines	76	67	77	73	63
Uganda	76	67	76	70	58
Cape Verde	77	66	76	73
Dominican Republic	78	65	78	77	71
Ghana	78	65	77	67	53
Zimbabwe	78	65	78	70	56
Cuba	79	64	77	78	69
Morocco	79	64	80	76	66
Armenia	80	63	81	76	69
Kyrgyzstan	80	63	80	74	68
Sierra Leone	80	63	79	64	51
Benin	81	62	80	73	61
Mozambique	81	62	81	82	74
Mongolia	81	62	80	82	72
São Tomé and Príncipe	82	61	81	83	74
Rwanda	83	60	84	87	73
Burkina Faso	84	59	83	76	62
Mauritania	84	59	83	40	58
India	85	58	82	77	71
Tajikistan	85	58	84	77	69
Gabon	86	57	85	85	72
Ivory Coast	86	57	84	72
Uzbekistan	86	57	85	80	72
Senegal	87	56	86	76	60
Equatorial Guinea	88	55	89	89	76
Guinea	88	55	85	75	60
Madagascar	88	55	87	83	71
Togo	88	55	86	76	62
Cambodia	89	54	88	87	79
Mali	89	54	87	75	59
Niger	89	54	87	76	60
Vietnam	89	54	90	84	78
Bhutan	90	53	89	83	77
Chad	90	53	88	82
Comoros	90	53	88	89
Guinea-Bissau	90	53	87	79	63
Turkmenistan	90	53	90	86	77
Central African Republic	91	52	90	81	68
Algeria	92	51	91	79	73
Jordan	92	51	92	97	75
Angola	93	50	92	92	77
Burundi	93	50	93	89	78
Egypt	93	50	92	84
Laos	93	50	92	85	76
Cameroon	94	49	92	85	70
Haiti	94	49	92	85	74
Liberia	94	49	93	82	65
Congo	95	48	94	85	69
Djibouti	96	47	95	91	77
Myanmar	96	47	95	92	81
Nigeria	97	46	95	76	62
Ethiopia	98	44	97	92	78
South Sudan	99	43	97
DR Congo	100	42	97	90
Eritrea	100	42	99	93	76
Sri Lanka	100	42	96	84	74
Bangladesh	101	41	99	85	68
Iran	101	41	99	92	82
Kosovo	102	40	98	89
Lebanon	102	40	100	94	79
Sudan	102	40	102	96	79
North Korea	103	39	100	90	78
Libya	104	38	100	87	77
Nepal	104	38	101	88	76
Palestine	104	38	102	97
Somalia	105	33	104	95	81
Yemen	105	33	103	88	78
Pakistan	106	32	104	90	79
Syria	107	29	105	87	80
Iraq	108	28	106	97	81
Afghanistan	109	26	107	98	83

See also

• The Passport Index

References

External links

• The Henley & Partners Visa Restrictions Index 2016
• Henley & Partners Passport Index
• Henley Passport Index ranking, as of 9 July 2018