Travelling abroad is easier than it’s ever been. In ye olden days it may have been a challenge to get around the world in 80 days, but now, so long as you’ve got one of the world's most powerful passports, you can probably do it in a couple of weeks and without a single hot air balloon.
The Henley Passport Index has just released its ranking of the most powerful passports in the world for 2024, and it’s good news for the UK. Our passport has gone up two spots since last year.
The Index measured a passport’s ‘strength’ based on how many countries it can be used to enter without a visa. In 2023, the UK sat at sixth place alongside France, Ireland and Portugal with 187 visa-free travel destinations. This year that number has climbed to 191, and we have reached the dizzying heights of fourth place.
While this is good news for Brits, it’s not the highest we’ve ever been on the list. In 2016 the UK was in third place overall, albeit with only 171 countries accessible sans visa. Those were the days, eh?
According to the Index, the least powerful passport in the world belongs to Afghanistan, which only gets visa-free access to 28 countries, followed by Syria and Iraq. The top spot was shared by six countries including Japan and Singapore, at least one of whom has always claimed the title since 2018. You can learn more about the worldwide rankings here.
Did you see that this new airline is launching flights from the UK to Italy?
Plus: Two British spots are the world's best to visit in 2024.
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