Once ranked No.1 in 2014, the American passport has slipped from 10th place earlier this year to 12th, tying with Malaysia. The fall marks a symbolic decline in global travel access for US citizens, who can now enter 180 out of 227 destinations without a visa.
The Henley Passport Index, compiled by global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley and Partners using data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), measures the number of destinations passport holders can visit visa-free or with a visa on arrival.
Henley and Partners said the drop in the US ranking follows several changes to international visa policies. The loss of visa-free access to Brazil in April, following a breakdown in reciprocity, and exclusion from China’s expanding visa-free programme have both reduced its score.
Further adjustments by Papua New Guinea and Myanmar also contributed to the decline.
More recently, Somalia’s launch of an eVisa system and Vietnam’s decision to exclude US citizens from its latest list of visa-free nations have pushed the country outside the top 10 for the first time.
The US also ranks low on the Henley Openness Index, which measures how many nationalities a country admits visa-free. Allowing only 46 nationalities to enter without a visa places it 77th out of 199 countries.
Singapore currently tops the global passport rankings, with access to 193 destinations visa-free. South Korea follows with 190, while Japan ranks third with 189. Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland share fourth place, and Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland and the Netherlands are tied in fifth.
The UK passport has also fallen to its lowest-ever ranking, slipping from sixth to eighth place despite once holding the top spot in 2015.
Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley and Partners and creator of the index, said: "The declining strength of the US passport over the past decade is more than just a reshuffle in rankings — it signals a fundamental shift in global mobility and soft power dynamics. Nations that embrace openness and cooperation are surging ahead, while those resting on past privilege are being left behind."
