World's most powerful passport revealed as UK drop further down rankings

The most powerful passport of 2025 has been revealed and it's not the UK.

There was once a time, specifically from 2013 to 2015, when the British passport sat atop the world passport rankings, but this is no longer the case.

While it doesn't present much of an obstacle to Brits travelling to popular destinations abroad, it does mean that a number of nationals across the world enjoy the privilege of moving more freely from nation to nation.

Just last year, the UK sat at fourth, but the bad news is that this is no longer the case, according to the Henley Passport Index.

Widely known as the official ranking of the world's passports, it ranks countries based on the number of international destinations its nationals can go to without a visa.

The index is based on the number of countries a holder can visit, visa-free (Getty Stock Image)

Unfortunately, the UK has fallen to number six after a slight drop off to five at the start of 2025.

Brits could enjoy the luxury of having access to 191 destinations but now, this number sits at 186.

They have fallen behind the likes of Austria, Greece, and Ireland among others -but who sits atop the table?

Well, with a total of 193 countries available to holders, visa-free, it's the southeast Asian nation of Singapore which has the best passport for the second year running.

It's boasted this position for four of the past five years, sharing the title with Japan on more than one occasion.

Japan is in second though, tied with South Korea with 190 visa-free destinations available to their nationals.

Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Ireland and Spain are joint in third with 189 destinations each.

Some countries that climbed the rankings include New Zealand (sixth to fourth) and the United Arab Emirates (11th to eighth).

Moving across the pond though, and we can see that the US has seen a slight drop from ninth to 10th in the past year, joint with Iceland and Lithuania with 182 visa-free destinations at their disposal.

Back in 2014, they sat atop the list, signalling a gradual decline in ranking.

The UK and US have seen drops in their rankings (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

The Henley Passport Index was started by investment firm Henley Global in 2005, and it ranks 199 of the world's passports.

It does this by utilising data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which uses travel restriction information.

The table is made based on regular passports and not specially issued diplomatic and emergency documents which may be granted on a case-by-case basis.

Top 10 most powerful passports in the world

1. Singapore - 193 visa-free destinations

2. Japan, South Korea - 190 visa-free destinations

3. Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain - 189 visa-free destinations

4. Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden - 188 visa-free destinations

5. Greece, New Zealand, Switzerland - 187 visa-free destinations

6. United Kingdom - 186 visa-free destinations

7. Australia, Czechia, Hungary, Malta, Poland - 185 visa-free destinations

8. Canada, Estonia, UAE - 184 visa-free destinations

9. Croatia, Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia - 183 visa-free destinations

10. Iceland, Lithuania, United States - 182 visa-free destinations