LONDON, July 2: Henley & Partners released their new passport strength ranking for July to December 2026, and Pakistan’s ranking will surprise many. A few Asian countries have climbed up nicely this time, but a lot of others haven’t been so lucky.
Henley & Partners revealed that Singapore passport holders get visa-free access to 192 countries right now, as it sits on top of the list. The UAE, Japan and South Korea are all tied for second with 188 destinations each. Sweden is right behind in third place with 187.
Then you’ve got a bunch of European countries like Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, the Netherlands and Spain sharing fourth spot, they can go to 186 places without a visa. Greece, Portugal, Austria, Switzerland and Malta are in fifth with 185 each.
It’s kind of surprising to see the American passport all the way down at 10th now. It used to be the strongest one out there years ago.
On the flip side, Pakistan is still in a rough position. The country ranks 100th overall and comes in as the fourth weakest passport globally. Pakistanis can only enter about 30 countries visa-free.
Yemen is just above at 99, Somalia 98, Nepal 97, North Korea and Bangladesh both at 96, Palestine and Iran at 95, Eritrea 94, and Sri Lanka plus Libya tied at 93. After Pakistan you’ve got Iraq at 101, Syria 102, and Afghanistan stuck at the very bottom in 103rd.
These rankings from Henley really show how uneven things are when it comes to international travel. Some passports open up almost the entire world, while others leave people with very few options. It’s a pretty big gap that doesn’t seem to be closing anytime soon for certain countries.