Singapore's passport is the strongest in the world: Italy ranks 'only' third
The year 2025 is off to the best start for Singapore. For the second consecutive year, the city-state's passport is the [...]
2025 is off to the best possible start for Singapore. For the second consecutive year, the city-state's passport is the strongest in the world, granting visa-free access to 195 states.
In this article:
This is said by celebrated consulting firm Henley & Partners, which, since 2006, has been calculating the incidence of passport most influential or powerful in the world taking into account sociological, economic and geopolitical changes.
The ranking of the most "powerful" passports in 2025: Italy "only" in third place
As mentioned, the gold medal goes to Singapore, whose passport grants visa-free access to as many as 195 countries. In second place, with 193 accessible nations, we find the Japan (which loses one position from last year); on the lowest step of the podium, then, they are tied with 192 countries accessible Italy, Germany, France, Finland, Spain and South Korea.
Our country, after placing 1st last year., this time it has to settle for the bronze medal. I found two functions of this report very nice: the first allows you to see the performance of a particular country over the years.
The second, on the other hand, gives the opportunity to compare passports and shows the complete list of destinations that can be reached without a visa.
Back to the rankings. The wooden medal, with 191 visa-free states, goes to Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden. Fifth place, finally, for Belgium, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, which grant access to 190 countries of the world. The United States closes the top 10 at ninth position, with 186 nations, tied with Estonia; 46th place for the Russian Federation, whose passport allows access to 116 countries; outside the top50, at position number 60, is China, with 85 visa-free nations.
Where Italians can't go compared to Singaporeans
Singaporeans, without any need to apply for a visa, can enter Azerbaijan, Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Cuba, Gabon, Ghana and Guinea; in contrast, visa-free access is not available to us Italians in these countries.
The least "strong" passports of 2025
Last but not least, we also find out which passports are the least relevant in the world, viz. Those that give automatic access rights to fewer than 40 countries in the world.
At position 101 we find the Nepal, whose passport grants access to only 39 states, followed by. Somalia (35), Pakistan e Yemen (33). Doing even worse is Iraq, with only 31 visa-free countries; penultimate place for Syria, with 27 nations. Black jersey, finally, for Afghanistan, whose citizens can enter only 26 nations without a visa.
