World’s most powerful passports for 2022: Croatian in top 20 

Croatian passport ranked in the top 20 globally

The Croatian passport has gone down one place in the latest Henley Passport Index global ranking which has just been released.

The Henley Passport Index is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.

The Croatian passport has moved down one spot from 16th place to 17th place in the ranking of the world’s most powerful passports for 2022 with visa-free access to 173 countries around the world.

Japan and Singapore jointly hold onto the number one spot. Holders of a Japanese and Singaporean passport have visa-free access to 193 destinations worldwide.

EU passports dominate the top of the list. Germany and South Korea are second on the list with visa-free access to 190 countries. Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain are third place with visa-free access to 189 countries.

In fourth place together are Austria, France, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark with a score of 188). Ireland and Portugal are fifth place with visa-free access to 187 countries. 

Passports of the United States and the United Kingdom are next in 6th place with Switzerland, Norway, Belgium and New Zealand. Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Greece and Malta were next in 7th place. 

Hungary and Poland are eighth, Lithuania and Slovakia at No. 9, and Estonia, Latvia and Slovenia are at No. 10.

The London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm Henley & Partners says that there is a ‘widening gap between the global north and the global south’ when it comes to travel freedoms.

At the other end of the list, in last place is Afghanistan with the Afghan passports only enabling visa-free access to 26 destinations worldwide. North Korea (39 destinations), Nepal and Palestinian territories (37), Somalia (34), Yemen (33), Pakistan (31), Syria (29) and Iraq (28) were the next weakest.