Ranking: These Are the World’s Most Powerful Passports

As a Canadian, travelling around the world is about as stress-free as it gets.

That’s because we’re fortunate to hold one of the most powerful passports in the world. Meaning, we have visa-free access to almost every country on the planet.

According to the Henley Passport Index, Canadians are privy to travel visa-free to 185 countries. That ranks the power of the Canadian passport fifth overall, tied with Denmark, Belgium, Switzerland, and Ireland.

Somewhat surprisingly, our neighbours to the South have visa-free access to 186 countries, placing them fourth internationally.

The most powerful passport in the world, meanwhile, belongs to the Japanese. Holders of a Japanese passport can travel to 189 countries without requiring a visa. Germany and Singapore’s passports rank second (188 countries), while Finland, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Sweden round out the top three (187 countries).

The five least powerful passports, meanwhile, are Afghanistan and Iraq, whose citizens can only travel to 30 countries without a visa.

The top 10 below:

1. Japan

2. Germany, Singapore

3. Finland, France, Italy, South Korea, Spain, Sweden

4. Austria, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, UK, USA

5. Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Switzerland

6. Greece, Australia

7. Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand

8. Iceland

9. Hungary, Slovenia, Malaysia

10. Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia

Vacation time aside, and domestic flight prices be damned, you should have no excuse to go out there and see the world. Allow us to point you in the right direction.

The index and its contents are based on data provided by the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and supplemented, enhanced, and updated using extensive in-house research and open-source online data. The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.