After two years of little or no travel, Americans are ready to get back out and explore the world.
An April survey by insurer International Medical Group said that 96% of respondents plan to travel internationally in 2022, an 11% increase over pre-pandemic travel levels.
In 2014, a U.S. passport was the best passport to have in the world: Americans had more visa-free destinations available to them than passport holders in any other country, along with Finland, Germany, Sweden and the U.K. By October of 2020, amid the covid-19 pandemic and other international events, only about 54 countries allowed American citizens to travel visa-free to their country.
The power of a passport lies in how it withstands global crisis, according to Arton Capital, a global citizenship financial advisory services firm based in Montreal, Canada that ranks passports. This was never more clear than during the pandemic when nations like Germany, Spain, South Korea, Switzerland, Japan, and New Zealand all continued to maintain their passport strength.
This year, Japan and Singapore hold the top spot in the Henley Passport Index, with visa-free access to 190 countries. Eighteen other countries’ passports also have more access than a U.S. passport.
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For example, Americans need a visa to travel to Russia, China, and Venezuela and several other places, but Japanese citizens can travel to China or Venezuela visa-free.
The Henley Passport Index ranks all of the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. The index covers 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.
Henley & Partners, a global adviser of citizenship planning for internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors, uses data from the International Air Transport Authority to compile the index.
The biggest climber in the ranking this year is the United Arab Emirates, which has moved up 49 spots from No. 64 in 2012 to No. 15 in 2022. Others are Colombia, Timor-Leste, China, Ukraine, Georgia, Peru and Dominica.
Based on the Henley Passport Index, these are the strongest passports in the world.
JapanRank: 1Access to: 192 countriesShutterstock
SingaporeRank: 1Access to: 192 countriesGermanyRank: 2Access to: 190 countriesAsiaTravel / Shutterstock
South KoreaRank: 2Access to: 190 countriesFinlandRank: 3Access to: 189 countriesItalyRank: 3Access to: 189 countriesPhoto: Shutterstock
LuxembourgRank: 3Access to: 189 countriesimagestockdesign / Shutterstock
SpainRank: 3Access to: 189 countriesShutterstock
AustriaRank: 4Access to: 188 countriesDenmarkRank: 4Access to: 188 countriesNetherlandsRank: 4Access to: 188 countriesSwedenRank: 4Access to: 188 countriesDaLiu / Shutterstock
FranceRank: 5Access to: 187 countriesPhoto: Popa Ioana Mirela / Shutterstock
IrelandRank: 5Access to: 187 countriesPortugalRank: 5Access to: 187 countriesShutterstock
United KingdomRank: 5Access to: 187 countriesPhoto: Intherayoflight / Shutterstock
BelgiumRank: 6Access to: 186 countriesNew ZealandRank: 6Access to: 186 countriesShutterstock
NorwayRank: 6Access to: 186 countriesSwitzerlandRank: 6Access to: 186 countriesKim Kelley-Wagner / Shutterstock
United StatesRank: 6Access to: 186 countriesAustraliaRank: 7Access to: 185 countriesCanadaRank: 7Access to: 185 countriesShutterstock
Czech RepublicRank: 7Access to: 185 countriesStockStudio Aerials / Shutterstock
GreeceRank: 7Access to: 185 countriesArtur Bogacki / Shutterstock
MaltaRank: 7Access to: 185 countriesHungaryRank: 8Access to: 183 countriesLithuaniaRank: 9Access to: 182 countriesPolandRank: 9Access to: 182 countriesPhoto: Shutterstock
SlovakiaRank: 9Access to: 182 countriesCheck out the full ranking of all of the countries at Henley Global.