From 1 to 10: Inside the 20-year status decline of the American passport

In 2006, a United States passport was the final ticket to the world, providing its residents a degree of world entry matched solely by two different nations: Denmark and Finland.

What a distinction 20 years makes. As the Henley Passport Index reveals in its newly launched Twentieth-anniversary report, the world rating of journey freedom now appears to be like fully totally different.

The index, which displays the journey freedoms supplied by passports round the world primarily based on the quantity of locations their holders can go to visa-free or visa-on-demand, reveals that US journey paperwork are now not amongst the strongest.

Today the United States is in tenth place however, as a result of Henley counts a number of international locations with the similar rating as a single spot in its standings, in actuality which means 36 international locations are ranked forward of it.

Denmark and Finland at the moment are at No. 4, behind 5 different international locations.

“Twenty years of data show that passport power is one of the clearest expressions of a country’s geopolitical capital,” stated Christian H. Kaelin, chair of the London-based world citizenship and residence advisory agency Henley & Partners and creator of the Henley Passport Index.

“The world’s strongest passports belong to nations that other countries want as partners — for trade, investment, security, or cooperation. Mobility is ultimately a measure of the value other countries place on their relationship with you.”

The world’s “most powerful” passport of July 2026 is Singapore’s, which lets its holders breeze visa-free into 192 locations worldwide, 70 greater than was attainable in 2006.

The United Arab Emirates, nevertheless, is the largest success story in the rating, each for 2026 and for its meteoric rise all through the twenty first century.

The finance and tourism hub has climbed the leaderboard this yr to No. 2, the place it holds the rating alongside the East Asian international locations of Japan and South Korea. Citizens of all three international locations get pleasure from visa-free entry to a complete of 188 locations worldwide.

Compared to twenty years in the past, that’s an addition of 60 locations for Japan, 73 extra for South Korea, and an astounding 153 new locations for the UAE.

The No. 3 spot is held by Sweden, with a rating of 187. Back in 2006, it was the No. 2 passport in the world, with a rating of 129.

The No. 4 spot for July 2026 is shared by Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway and Spain (all with a rating of 186).

Malta has climbed up to a rating of 185, placing it in the No. 5 spot alongside Austria, Greece, Portugal and Switzerland. Back in 2006, Malta was exterior the high 10, in eleventh place on the rating.

At No. 6, now we have Hungary (up from No. 19 in 2006), Poland (up from No.16 in 2006) and the United Kingdom (down from No.3 in 2006).

Eight international locations are in place No. 7: Latvia (up from No.26 in 2006), Slovakia (up from No.22 in 2006), Czech Republic (up from No. 21 in 2006), Slovenia (up from No. 17 in 2006), Australia and Malaysia (each up from No.9 in 2006) and Canada and New Zealand (each down from No. 6 in 2006).

Position No. 8 is held by a pair of European high-climbers, which have recovered effectively from turbulent Twentieth-century histories: Croatia (which has risen 20 locations in 20 years) and Estonia (which has risen 18).

At No. 9, Lithuania has climbed 15 locations in twenty years and Liechtenstein has climbed one.

While the United States is in joint tenth place, alongside Iceland, it now has visa-free entry to 180 locations worldwide — which is a big enhance on the 130 locations open to its passport holders in 2006.

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