SA Passport jumps up a spot on Henley Passport Index
Just last month, the Henley Passport Index revealed the new rankings of all of the world’s passports for 2025, including the SA passport, which moved up to number 48 on the list.
The Henley Passport Index is the original, authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their passport-holders can travel to visa-free.
“With historical data spanning 19 years, the Henley Passport Index is the only one of its kind based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.” Henley & Partners says.
And now, according to these rankings, South Africa’s passport has moved up even further, ranking at number 47 on the list of 199 passports.
Despite this, however, the index highlighted that South Africans can now only travel to 104 destinations without requiring a visa, down from last month’s 106 destinations.
The two countries which now do not allow visa-free travel for South Africans are Mauritania and Pakistan, both having moved to an e-visa system for SA tourists instead.
The top passports of the world
Here are is the updated list of the top five most powerful passports:
| Rank | Country | Number of visa-free countries |
| 1 | Singapore | 193 |
| 2 | Japan | 190 |
| 2 | South Korea | 190 |
| 3 | Denmark | 189 |
| 3 | Finland | 189 |
| 3 | France | 189 |
| 3 | Germany | 189 |
| 3 | Ireland | 189 |
| 3 | Italy | 189 |
| 3 | Spain | 189 |
| 4 | Austria | 188 |
| 4 | Belgium | 188 |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 188 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 188 |
| 4 | Norway | 188 |
| 4 | Portugal | 188 |
| 4 | Sweden | 188 |
| 5 | Greece | 187 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 187 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 187 |
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