Politics
Ranked: The World’s Most and Least Powerful Passports in 2023
Ranked: The World’s Most and Least Powerful Passports
Depending on your passport, travel can be as simple as just booking flights, finding a hotel, and, then simply going.
But for many across the world, it’s not that easy—a number of passport holders need to obtain a travel/tourist visa prior to arrival. These visas typically require approval from the destination country’s government that can take weeks or months.
Japanese passport holders, for example, are able to visit 193 countries without pre-approval (nearly every country on Earth). Afghans, on the other hand, can only visit 27 countries with the same level of ease.
This ranking uses data from Henley & Partners, which determines the number of countries to which a passport holder has visa-free access.
The World’s Passports
First let’s look at every country’s position in the ranking in the table below:
Rank | Passport | Number of Countries Allowing Visa-Free Access |
---|---|---|
#1 | 🇯🇵 Japan | 193 |
#1 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | 193 |
#3 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | 192 |
#4 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 191 |
#4 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 191 |
#6 | 🇫🇮 Finland | 190 |
#6 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 190 |
#6 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 190 |
#9 | 🇦🇹 Austria | 189 |
#9 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 189 |
#9 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 189 |
#9 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 189 |
#13 | 🇫🇷 France | 188 |
#13 | 🇮🇪 Ireland | 188 |
#13 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 188 |
#13 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 188 |
#17 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 187 |
#17 | 🇨🇿 Czechia | 187 |
#17 | 🇳🇿 New Zealand | 187 |
#17 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 187 |
#17 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 187 |
#17 | 🇺🇸 United States | 187 |
#23 | 🇦🇺 Australia | 186 |
#23 | 🇨🇦 Canada | 186 |
#23 | 🇬🇷 Greece | 186 |
#23 | 🇲🇹 Malta | 186 |
#27 | 🇭🇺 Hungary | 185 |
#27 | 🇵🇱 Poland | 185 |
#29 | 🇱🇹 Lithuania | 184 |
#29 | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | 184 |
#31 | 🇱🇻 Latvia | 183 |
#31 | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 183 |
#33 | 🇪🇪 Estonia | 182 |
#34 | 🇮🇸 Iceland | 181 |
#35 | 🇲🇾 Malaysia | 180 |
#36 | 🇱🇮 Liechtenstein | 179 |
#37 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | 178 |
#37 | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | 178 |
#39 | 🇷🇴 Romania | 176 |
#40 | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | 175 |
#40 | 🇨🇱 Chile | 175 |
#40 | 🇭🇷 Croatia | 175 |
#40 | 🇲🇨 Monaco | 175 |
#44 | 🇭🇰 Hong Kong (SAR China) | 172 |
#45 | 🇦🇷 Argentina | 171 |
#46 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | 170 |
#46 | 🇸🇲 San Marino | 170 |
#48 | 🇦🇩 Andorra | 169 |
#49 | 🇧🇳 Brunei | 167 |
#50 | 🇧🇧 Barbados | 162 |
#51 | 🇮🇱 Israel | 160 |
#51 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | 160 |
#53 | 🇰🇳 St. Kitts and Nevis | 156 |
#54 | 🇧🇸 Bahamas | 155 |
#55 | 🇻🇦 Vatican City | 154 |
#56 | 🇸🇨 Seychelles | 153 |
#56 | 🇺🇾 Uruguay | 153 |
#58 | 🇻🇨 St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 151 |
#59 | 🇦🇬 Antigua and Barbuda | 150 |
#59 | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | 150 |
#59 | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | 150 |
#62 | 🇲🇺 Mauritius | 146 |
#63 | 🇱🇨 St. Lucia | 146 |
#63 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 146 |
#65 | 🇬🇩 Grenada | 145 |
#66 | 🇩🇲 Dominica | 144 |
#66 | 🇲🇴 Macao (SAR China) | 144 |
#66 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 144 |
#69 | 🇵🇦 Panama | 143 |
#70 | 🇵🇾 Paraguay | 141 |
#71 | 🇷🇸 Serbia | 137 |
#72 | 🇵🇪 Peru | 136 |
#73 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | 133 |
#73 | 🇬🇹 Guatemala | 133 |
#73 | 🇭🇳 Honduras | 133 |
#76 | 🇸🇻 El Salvador | 132 |
#77 | 🇼🇸 Samoa | 131 |
#77 | 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands | 131 |
#79 | 🇹🇴 Tonga | 129 |
#80 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 128 |
#81 | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | 127 |
#81 | 🇹🇻 Tuvalu | 127 |
#83 | 🇲🇰 North Macedonia | 125 |
#84 | 🇲🇪 Montenegro | 124 |
#85 | 🇰🇮 Kiribati | 123 |
#86 | 🇲🇭 Marshall Islands | 122 |
#87 | 🇲🇩 Moldova | 120 |
#88 | 🇵🇼 Palau Islands | 119 |
#89 | 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 118 |
#89 | 🇫🇲 Micronesia | 118 |
#89 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 118 |
#92 | 🇦🇱 Albania | 115 |
#92 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | 115 |
#94 | 🇹🇷 Türkiye | 111 |
#95 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | 106 |
#96 | 🇧🇿 Belize | 102 |
#97 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | 100 |
#98 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | 97 |
#98 | 🇻🇺 Vanuatu | 97 |
#100 | 🇹🇱 Timor-Leste | 94 |
#101 | 🇪🇨 Ecuador | 92 |
#102 | 🇲🇻 Maldives | 89 |
#102 | 🇳🇷 Nauru | 89 |
#104 | 🇧🇭 Bahrain | 87 |
#104 | 🇫🇯 Fiji | 87 |
#104 | 🇬🇾 Guyana | 87 |
#107 | 🇧🇼 Botswana | 86 |
#107 | 🇯🇲 Jamaica | 86 |
#109 | 🇴🇲 Oman | 82 |
#109 | 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea | 82 |
#109 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 82 |
#112 | 🇨🇳 China | 81 |
#113 | 🇧🇾 Belarus | 79 |
#113 | 🇧🇴 Bolivia | 79 |
#113 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | 79 |
#116 | 🇳🇦 Namibia | 78 |
#117 | 🇱🇸 Lesotho | 77 |
#117 | 🇸🇷 Suriname | 77 |
#119 | 🇰🇿 Kazakhstan | 75 |
#120 | 🇸🇿 Eswatini | 74 |
#121 | 🇲🇼 Malawi | 73 |
#122 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 72 |
#122 | 🇰🇪 Kenya | 72 |
#124 | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | 71 |
#124 | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | 71 |
#126 | 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic | 70 |
#126 | 🇿🇲 Zambia | 70 |
#128 | 🇦🇿 Azerbaijan | 69 |
#129 | 🇬🇲 The Gambia | 68 |
#130 | 🇵🇭 Philippines | 67 |
#131 | 🇺🇬 Uganda | 66 |
#132 | 🇦🇲 Armenia | 65 |
#132 | 🇨🇻 Cape Verde Islands | 65 |
#132 | 🇲🇦 Morocco | 65 |
#132 | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | 65 |
#136 | 🇨🇺 Cuba | 64 |
#136 | 🇬🇭 Ghana | 64 |
#136 | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | 64 |
#139 | 🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan | 63 |
#140 | 🇲🇳 Mongolia | 61 |
#140 | 🇲🇿 Mozambique | 61 |
#142 | 🇧🇯 Benin | 60 |
#142 | 🇮🇳 India | 60 |
#142 | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | 60 |
#145 | 🇸🇹 Sao Tome and Principe | 59 |
#145 | 🇹🇯 Tajikistan | 59 |
#145 | 🇺🇿 Uzbekistan | 59 |
#148 | 🇲🇷 Mauritania | 58 |
#149 | 🇧🇫 Burkina Faso | 57 |
#150 | 🇨🇮 Cote d'Ivoire | 56 |
#150 | 🇬🇦 Gabon | 56 |
#150 | 🇸🇳 Senegal | 56 |
#153 | 🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea | 55 |
#153 | 🇬🇳 Guinea | 55 |
#153 | 🇻🇳 Vietnam | 55 |
#156 | 🇰🇭 Cambodia | 54 |
#156 | 🇲🇬 Madagascar | 54 |
#156 | 🇹🇬 Togo | 54 |
#159 | 🇪🇬 Egypt | 53 |
#159 | 🇯🇴 Jordan | 53 |
#159 | 🇲🇱 Mali | 53 |
#159 | 🇳🇪 Niger | 53 |
#163 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | 52 |
#163 | 🇧🇹 Bhutan | 52 |
#163 | 🇨🇫 Central African Republic | 52 |
#163 | 🇹🇩 Chad | 52 |
#163 | 🇰🇲 Comoros | 52 |
#163 | 🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau | 52 |
#163 | 🇹🇲 Turkmenistan | 52 |
#170 | 🇨🇲 Cameroon | 51 |
#171 | 🇦🇴 Angola | 50 |
#171 | 🇱🇦 Laos | 50 |
#173 | 🇧🇮 Burundi | 49 |
#173 | 🇨🇬 Congo (Rep.) | 49 |
#173 | 🇱🇷 Liberia | 49 |
#176 | 🇩🇯 Djibouti | 48 |
#176 | 🇭🇹 Haiti | 48 |
#178 | 🇲🇲 Myanmar | 47 |
#179 | 🇪🇹 Ethiopia | 46 |
#179 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | 46 |
#181 | 🇪🇷 Eritrea | 44 |
#181 | 🇮🇷 Iran | 44 |
#181 | 🇸🇸 South Sudan | 44 |
#184 | 🇨🇩 Democratic Republic of the Congo | 42 |
#184 | 🇸🇩 Sudan | 42 |
#186 | 🇽🇰 Kosovo | 41 |
#186 | 🇱🇧 Lebanon | 41 |
#186 | 🇱🇰 Sri Lanka | 41 |
#189 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | 40 |
#189 | 🇱🇾 Libya | 40 |
#189 | 🇰🇵 North Korea | 40 |
#192 | 🇵🇸 Palestine | 38 |
#193 | 🇳🇵 Nepal | 37 |
#194 | 🇸🇴 Somalia | 35 |
#195 | 🇾🇪 Yemen | 34 |
#196 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | 32 |
#197 | 🇸🇾 Syria | 30 |
#198 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 29 |
#199 | Afghanistan | 27 |
Visas are imposed by some countries to make it easier to track visitors, allowing a country to assess whether said passport-holder may be a risk for illegal immigration, crime, acts of terror, or covert surveillance.
For example, both Russia and China require American passport holders to obtain visas prior to travel, and vice versa.
The Most Powerful Passports
When it comes to the most powerful passports, most of the top 20 are issued by countries in Asia or Europe, with the exception of New Zealand and the United States.
Due to multiple ties in the rankings the U.S. technically ranks 17th, having visa-free access to 187 countries, on par with Norway, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Ranking 66th, Ukraine’s passport has actually seen drastic improvement over the last decade, currently getting visa-free access to 144 countries. It has yet to be seen how this will change in the wake of the Russia/Ukraine conflict.
The Least Powerful Passports
Many of least powerful passports come out of war-torn and politically unstable nations. As visas for travel are typically required to counter illicit activity, these nations are often flagged whether justly or not.
One immediate standout among the least powerful passports is North Korea. The insular nation has visa-free access to 40 countries, ranking it above eight other passports on the list.
Most North Koreans who travel abroad do so only in extremely special circumstances for work, study, or athletic competitions. Leisure travel out of North Korea does not happen, but technically, North Koreans can visit countries like Haiti, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Palestine, and Kyrgyzstan, among others without a visa.
The Biggest Gainers & Losers Over Time
From a big picture standpoint, the world’s travelers have seen their access improve significantly over the last 10 years. If you’re a citizen of the UAE, for example, your prospects for visa-free travel have improved by 100+ countries over the last decade.
Here’s a closer look at 15 countries with the greatest change in visa-free access:
Rank | Country | 2013 Visa-Free Access | 2023 Visa-Free Access | 10 Year Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | 🇦🇪 United Arab Emirates | 72 | 178 | +106 |
#2 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | 63 | 133 | +70 |
#3 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 77 | 144 | +67 |
#4 | 🇲🇩 Moldova | 59 | 120 | +61 |
#5 | 🇻🇨 St. Vincent and the Grenadines | 92 | 151 | +59 |
#6 | 🇩🇲 Dominica | 87 | 144 | +57 |
#6 | 🇬🇩 Grenada | 88 | 145 | +57 |
#8 | 🇵🇪 Peru | 80 | 136 | +56 |
#9 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | 60 | 115 | +55 |
#10 | 🇱🇨 St. Lucia | 94 | 146 | +52 |
#11 | 🇼🇸 Samoa | 81 | 131 | +50 |
#11 | 🇹🇹 Trinidad and Tobago | 100 | 150 | +50 |
#13 | 🇹🇴 Tonga | 80 | 129 | +49 |
#14 | 🇸🇧 Solomon Islands | 84 | 131 | +47 |
#15 | 🇭🇷 Croatia | 129 | 175 | +46 |
On the other hand, other countries have fared poorly, with some actually losing access to destinations since 2013. Yemen and Syria are tied for first place, having lost visa-free access to nine countries over the last 10 years.
Here’s a look at 15 countries who experienced the biggest negative change:
Rank | Country | 2013 Visa-Free Access | 2023 Visa-Free Access | 10 Year Change |
---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | 🇾🇪 Yemen | 43 | 34 | -9 |
#1 | 🇸🇾 Syria | 39 | 30 | -9 |
#3 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | 48 | 46 | -2 |
#3 | 🇮🇶 Iraq | 31 | 29 | -2 |
#5 | 🇰🇵 North Korea | 41 | 40 | -1 |
#5 | 🇧🇩 Bangladesh | 41 | 40 | -1 |
#5 | 🇦🇫 Afghanistan | 28 | 27 | -1 |
#8 | 🇻🇪 Venezuela | 128 | 128 | 0 |
#8 | 🇬🇲 The Gambia | 68 | 68 | 0 |
#8 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | 32 | 32 | 0 |
#8 | 🇳🇪 Niger | 53 | 53 | 0 |
#8 | 🇳🇵 Nepal | 37 | 37 | 0 |
#8 | 🇲🇱 Mali | 53 | 53 | 0 |
#14 | 🇹🇬 Togo | 53 | 54 | +1 |
#14 | 🇸🇱 Sierra Leone | 63 | 64 | +1 |
Looking at the tables above, it’s apparent that the world has generally become more open in recent years.
Overall, the power of a passport is almost directly reflective of the political state of the world. World powers and rich nations typically have free flow of travel, but those facing instability or war are often also face barriers when wanting to go abroad.
War
Visualized: Top 15 Global Tank Fleets
Heavily armed and armored, the modern tank is a versatile and mobile weapons platform, and a critical piece of contemporary warfare.
The Top 15 Global Tank Fleets
This was originally posted on our Voronoi app. Download the app for free on iOS or Android and discover incredible data-driven charts from a variety of trusted sources.
Heavily armed and armored, the modern tank is a versatile and mobile weapons platform, and a critical piece of contemporary warfare.
This visualization shows the top 15 global tank fleets, using data from the 2024 Military Balance report from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).
Let’s take an in-depth look at the top three fleets:
1. United States
As the world’s pre-eminent military power, it’s perhaps no surprise that the United States also has the largest tank fleet, by a wide margin.
In total, they have just over 45,000 armored fighting vehicles in operation, along with 2,640 main battle tanks (MBTs), and 12,800 vehicles in storage, of which 2,000 are main battle tanks.
Category | Vehicles | Global rank |
---|---|---|
Main battle tanks | 2,640 | 4 |
Armored reconnaissance | 1,745 | 1 |
Infantry fighting vehicles | 3,262 | 3 |
Armored personnel carriers | 10,644 | 1 |
Amphibious assault vehicles | 1,401 | 1 |
Armored utility vehicles | 28,445 | 1 |
Storage | 12,800 | 1 |
Total | 60,937 | 1 |
The U.S. is internalizing the lessons from the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, where Western-supplied anti-tank weapons and massed Ukrainian artillery have been cutting Russian tanks to pieces. As a result, the U.S. recently canceled an upgrade of the M1 Abrams in favor of a more ambitious upgrade.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is nervously eyeing a more confident China and a potential clash over Taiwan, where air and naval forces will be critical. However, a recent war game showed that Taiwanese mechanized ground forces, kitted out with American-made tanks and armored fighting vehicles, were critical in keeping the island autonomous.
2. Russia
According to Oryx, a Dutch open-source intelligence defense website, at time of writing, Russia has lost almost 2,800 main battle tanks since invading Ukraine. Considering that in the 2022 edition of the Military Balance, Russia was estimated to have 2,927 MBTs in operation, those are some hefty losses.
Russia has been able to maintain about 2,000 MBTs in the field, in part, by increasing domestic production. Many defense plants have been taken over by state-owned Rostec and now operate around the clock. Russia is also now spending a full third of their budget on defense, equivalent to about 7.5% of GDP.
At the same time, they’ve also been drawing down their Soviet-era stockpiles, which are modernized before being sent to the front. Just how long they can keep this up is an open question; their stockpiles are large, but not limitless. Here is what their storage levels look like:
Category | 2023 | 2024 | YOY change |
---|---|---|---|
Main battle tanks | 5,000 | 4,000 | -20.0% |
Armored reconnaissance | 1,000 | 100 | -90.0% |
Infantry fighting vehicles | 4,000 | 2,800 | -30.0% |
Armored personnel carriers | 6,000 | 2,300 | -61.7% |
Total | 16,000 | 9,200 | -42.5% |
3. China
China holds the third overall spot and top place globally for the number of main battle tanks in operation. Untypically, the People’s Liberation Army has no armored vehicles in storage, which perhaps isn’t surprising when you consider that China has been rapidly modernizing its military and that stockpiles usually contain older models.
China also has one of the world’s largest fleets of armored fighting vehicles, second only to the United States. Breaking down that headline number, we can also see that they have the largest number of light tanks, wheeled guns, and infantry fighting vehicles.
Category | Vehicles | Global rank |
---|---|---|
Main battle tanks | 4,700 | 1 |
Light tanks | 1,330 | 1 |
Wheeled guns | 1,250 | 1 |
Infantry fighting vehicles | 8,200 | 1 |
Armored personnel carriers | 3,604 | 5 |
Airborne combat vehicles | 180 | 2 |
Amphibious assault vehicles | 990 | 2 |
Total | 20,254 | 3 |
This is equipment that would be integral if China were to make an attempt to reunify Taiwan with the mainland by force, where lightly armored mechanized units need to move with speed to occupy the island before Western allies can enter the fray. It’s worth noting that China also has one of the world’s largest fleets of amphibious assault vehicles.
End of the Tank?
Many commentators at the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, were quick to predict the end of the tank, however, to paraphrase Mark Twain, reports of the tank’s demise are greatly exaggerated.
With the U.S. and China both developing remote and autonomous armored vehicles, tanks could be quite different in the future, but there is nothing else that matches them for firepower, mobility, and survivability on the modern battlefield today.
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