Henley Passport Index ranks passports for 2025
The Henley Passport Index has revealed the new rankings of all of the world’s passports for 2025.
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.
According to these ranking, South Africa’s passport has shot up five places for 2025, ranking among the top 50 strongest passports in the world.
The SA passport featured in at number 48 on the list of 199 passports, allowing South Africans to travel to 106 destinations without requiring a visa.
As reported by Business Tech, the last time the SA passport ranked in the top 50 was in 2014, just over a decade ago.
The top five passports of the world
Singapore ranks at number one on the list, retaining its position from last year. Here are the top five most powerful passports:
| Rank | Country | Number of visa-free countries |
| 1 | Singapore | 195 |
| 2 | Japan | 193 |
| 3 | Finland | 192 |
| 3 | France | 192 |
| 3 | Germany | 192 |
| 3 | Italy | 192 |
| 3 | South Korea | 192 |
| 3 | Spain | 192 |
| 4 | Austria | 191 |
| 4 | Denmark | 191 |
| 4 | Ireland | 191 |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 191 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 191 |
| 4 | Norway | 191 |
| 4 | Sweden | 191 |
| 5 | Belgium | 190 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 190 |
| 5 | Portugal | 190 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 190 |
| 5 | United Kingdom | 190 |
Do you have an SA passport?
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