Turkey's position in the list of the world's most powerful passports revealed

The Passport Index, published regularly by Henley & Partners based on official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has revealed striking data in its ranking of the world's most powerful passports. According to the index, the Singapore passport has reclaimed the top spot as the world's most powerful, granting its citizens visa-free travel to 195 countries.

France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and Spain, which shared the lead with Singapore in the previous index, now rank second on the list of the most powerful passports. Holders of a passport from any of these five countries can travel visa-free to 192 countries worldwide.

On the other hand, in an unprecedented manner, 7 countries consisting of Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden shared third place in the index by offering visa-free travel to 191 countries.

The United Kingdom and United States passports, which shared the top spot as the world's most powerful passports 10 years ago, continue to slide in the rankings. According to the 2024 index, the number of countries that can be visited visa-free with a UK passport has fallen to 190. In the new index, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland are tied for 4th place. On the other hand, the US passport, which continues its downward trend of the last 10 years and allows visa-free travel to 186 countries, ranks 8th on the list. The Afghanistan passport, which allows visa-free travel to 26 countries, remains anchored at the bottom of the rankings. This has been recorded as the lowest score in the history of the list, which has been published for 19 years.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) passport, which showed the most significant rise in the rankings, has added 152 destinations to its visa-free travel map since 2006, the year the index was first published, bringing the number of countries that can be visited visa-free to 185.

Since January 2024, Turkey has climbed 7 spots in the index, moving from 52nd to 45th place. With this rise, the number of countries that can be visited visa-free with a Turkish passport has increased to 118. Turkey's new position in the rankings also stands out as its best performance in the last 10 years.