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We It has dropped out of the top 10 in the world’s “most powerful passports” ranking for the first time in the 20-year history of the widely respected index.
Back in 2014, American The passport was unmatched at No. 1, but it has now fallen to 12th place on the Henley Passport Index from 10th place with Malaysia earlier this year.
Where a country stands in the rankings – driven by data International Air Transport Association (IATA) – This depends on how many destinations its citizens can travel visa-free to. US passport holders can access only 180 of the 227 locations worldwide without a prior visa.
Henley & Partners reported that the decline of the US passport and its fall from 10th to 12th place involved a series of changes in accessibility.
Loss of visa-free access brazil Due to lack of reciprocity in April, and the US was excluded from from china The rapidly expanding visa-exempt list marked the beginning of its decline.
This was followed by adjustments from Papua New Guinea and Myanmar, which further reduced the US score while boosting other passports.
Recently, Somalia’s introduction of a new e-Visa system and Vietnam’s decision to exclude the US from its latest visa-free additions dealt it the final blow, knocking it out of the top 10.
The US also fares poorly on the Henley Openness Index, which measures how many nationalities a country accepts visa-free. Allowing only 46 nationalities entry without visas, the US ranks 77th out of 199.
The top three spots in the main passport-power rankings are held by Singapore (visa-free access to 193 destinations), South Korea (190), and Japan (189).
tied for fourth GermanyItaly, Luxembourg, spain and Switzerland, while Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland and the Netherlands are in fifth place.
UK The passport has slipped two places since July, from sixth to eighth, despite once holding the top spot (in 2015).
Dr. Christian H. Kelin, Chairman and Creator of Henley & Partners henley passport indexcommented: “The declining strength of the US passport over the past decade is more than a shuffling of the rankings – it signals a fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics. Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are moving forward, while those resting on past privilege are falling behind.”