Marking two decades since its inception, the Henley Passport Index 2026 reveals a growing divide between the world’s most and least mobile populations.
Created 20 years ago and based on exclusive Timatic data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the index ranks all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
While a record number of passports now cluster at the top of the ranking, those at the bottom remain increasingly isolated, underscoring a widening global mobility gap.
At the top of the index, Singapore retains its position as the world’s most powerful passport, offering visa-free access to 192 destinations.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Afghanistan once again ranks last, with its passport holders able to travel to just 24 destinations without a prior visa.
The resulting 168-destination gap starkly illustrates the scale of global mobility inequality in 2026 — a dramatic widening of the divide since 2006, when the difference between the then top-ranking US passport and Afghanistan was only 118 destinations.
“Over the past 20 years, global mobility has expanded significantly, but the benefits have been distributed unevenly,” said Dr Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman at Henley & Partners and creator of the Henley Passport Index.
Kaelin added, “Today, passport privilege plays a decisive role in shaping opportunity, security, and economic participation, with rising average access masking a reality in which mobility advantages are increasingly concentrated among the world’s most economically powerful and politically stable nations.”
This imbalance is intensifying even as international travel demand continues to grow. IATA forecasts that airlines will carry more than 5.2 billion passengers globally this year.
“A record number of people are expected to travel in 2026. The unequivocal economic and social benefits generated by this travel grow as it becomes more accessible. But while more people have the economic freedom to travel, many nationalities are seeing that a passport alone is no longer sufficient to cross borders”, stated IATA Director General Willie Walsh.
Walsh explained that as many governments “look to more tightly secure their borders, technological advances such as digital ID and digital passports should not be overlooked by policymakers”, highlighting that “convenient travel and secure borders are possible”.
Japan and South Korea rank joint second in 2026, each offering visa-free access to 188 destinations, reinforcing Asia’s long-standing leadership at the top of the global mobility rankings.
Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland follow in third place with access to 186 destinations, ahead of an unprecedented group of 10 European countries tied for fourth.
The remaining upper-tier passports continue to underscore Europe’s dominance, with notable exceptions including the UAE (fifth), New Zealand (sixth), Australia (seventh), Canada (eighth), and Malaysia (ninth).
The U.S. has returned to the top 10 after briefly dropping out for the first time in late 2025, but this recovery masks a longer-term decline for both the U.S. and the UK, which jointly held first place in 2014.
The past year saw both countries record their steepest annual losses in visa-free access, shedding seven and eight destinations, respectively. The U.S. has suffered the third-largest decline in ranking over the past two decades, after Venezuela and Vanuatu, falling six places from fourth to 10th, while the UK ranks as the fourth-biggest faller, down four places from third in 2006 to seventh in 2026.
“Passport power ultimately reflects political stability, diplomatic credibility, and the ability to shape international rules”, said Misha Glenny, award-winning journalist and Rector of the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. “As transatlantic relations strain and domestic politics grow more volatile, the erosion of mobility rights for countries like the US and UK is less a technical anomaly than a signal of deeper geopolitical recalibration.”
