Because many Canadian travelers tend to unfortunately always visit the same popular and touristy countries (which are almost all visa-free), they sometimes don’t realize how much of a privilege it is to have a Canadian passport. The annual ranking of the world’s most powerful passports illustrates this very well.
The latest edition was just released.
Here are the details of the world’s most powerful passports for 2024.
Overview of a passport’s power
The Henley Passport Index is published annually by Henley & Partners, a global firm specializing in residence and citizenship.
It ranks 199 passports according to how “powerful” they are. That means the number of destinations passport holders can access without having to obtain a prior visa.
So imagine the logistics of traveling the world as you do, but with an Egyptian or Vietnamese passport that requires you to get a prior visa in about 150 of the 199 countries…
In case you didn’t know yet, looking at a country’s entry rules and requirements is always literally the only mandatory step when planning any trip. Even European Union countries announced that they will require Canadians to get visas next year.
(They call it a “travel authorization,” but the principle is the same: you’ll have to actually do something before boarding a plane. You won’t be able to just show up and put in zero effort. So start getting used to taking 5 minutes for every country, it’s the most basic of basic steps!)
You can read Flytrippers’ ultimate guide to countries’ entry rules.
Here’s the top 10 in this year’s ranking of powerful passports, which includes 35 countries — there are many ties.
Honestly, this “powerful passport” thing makes for a great headline… but there really isn’t a huge difference between the most powerful passport (visa-free access to 195 countries) and the 10th position (180 countries). In fact, over 60 countries have visa-free access to over 150 countries, so there are a lot of pretty powerful passports.
Can you guess where our Canadian passport ranks?
1. Visa-free access to 195 countries
1 passport:
- Singapore 🇸🇬
2. Visa-free access to 192 countries
5 passports:
- Japan 🇯🇵
- France 🇫🇷
- Spain 🇪🇸
- Italy 🇮🇹
- Germany 🇩🇪
3. Visa-free access to 191 countries
6 passports:
- Finland 🇫🇮
- Ireland 🇮🇪
- Luxembourg 🇱🇺
- Netherlands 🇳🇱
- South Korea 🇰🇷
- Sweden 🇸🇪
4. Visa-free access to 190 countries
6 passports:
- Belgium 🇧🇪
- Denmark 🇩🇰
- New Zealand 🇳🇿
- Norway 🇳🇴
- Switzerland 🇨🇭
- United Kingdom 🇬🇧
5. Visa-free access to 189 countries
2 passports:
- Australia 🇦🇺
- Portugal 🇵🇹
6. Visa-free access to 188 countries
2 passports:
- Greece 🇬🇷
- Poland 🇵🇱
7. Visa-free access to 187 countries
4 passports:
- Canada 🇨🇦
- Czechia 🇨🇿
- Hungary 🇭🇺
- Malta 🇲🇹
8. Visa-free access to 186 countries
1 passport:
- United States 🇺🇸
9. Visa-free access to 185 countries
3 passports:
- Estonia 🇪🇪
- Lithuania 🇱🇹
- United Arab Emirates 🇦🇪
10. Visa-free access to 184 countries
4 passports:
- Iceland 🇮🇸
- Latvia 🇱🇻
- Slovakia 🇸🇰
- Slovenia 🇸🇮
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Summary
This ranking of the world’s most powerful passports for 2024 shows Singapore as the most powerful. There are actually 23 countries with a more powerful passport than Canada’s, but that still ranks us 7th, with visa-free access to 187 countries.
What would you like to know about the most powerful passports for 2024? Tell us in the comments below.
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Featured image: Boarding pass and passport (photo credit: Unsplash+)
