The European Union Republic of Italy passport has been certified as the second strongest in the world (in a tie with those of Spain and Germany) for its facilitation of visa-free travel to 190 countries across the globe.
This confirmation of the Italian passport’s power came with last week’s release of the Henley Passport Index, an annual ranking produced by the London-based consulting firm Henley & Partners since 2006.
According to the new report, only Singapore’s passport, which moved up five places in the last decade, outranks Italy’s crimson-colored booklet. Its holders can enter 192 countries.
This year, a record number of passports — 34 — allow access to 182 or more countries.
The “big blue” of the United States, tied with Lithuania at number eight, isn’t performing all that well. It has had the smallest increase in its score between 2013 and 2023, adding only 12 visa-free destinations in that period. Falling last in line is Afghanistan with only 27 countries open to access.
Not all passports are created equal
To determine which nationalities have more advantages in travel outside their own countries, the Henley Passport Index looks at statistics from 199 different passports and 227 different destinations worldwide.
The report also considers a country’s openness to foreigners, the freedom and ease (or lack of long, tedious bureaucratic processes) with which its citizens can travel abroad, and its ability to attract international visitors for tourism and trade.
Chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index, Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, said that only eight countries have less visa-free access to other destinations today than they did a decade ago, proving that most nations are successfully procuring greater travel freedoms for their citizens.
The final published results are based on data gathered from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) as well as from expert analysis by the Henley & Partners team.
Check out the complete index here.
