Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

News

Graphic Truth: How powerful is your passport?

Graphic Truth: How powerful is your passport?
Make us preferred on Google

The system of passports as we know it today dates from roughly a hundred years ago, when leading world powers were trying to figure out a way to regulate international travel in the messy aftermath of World War One. Ever since, these documents have been seen both as boarding passes to freedom and as levers for government control. But which of the world's passports open up the widest vistas of international travel? The Henley Passport Index has an answer. For 199 passports, it tallies up the number of countries that are accessible without obtaining a prior visa. Here's a map of which countries' passports are the most powerful right now.

More For You

​Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage looks on at the House of Commons chamber

Reform UK Leader Nigel Farage looks on at the House of Commons chamber during the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, May 13, 2026.

REUTERS/Toby Melville/Pool
Man’s death sparks political firestorm in the United KingdomReform UK leader Nigel Farage called for the British public to respond with “pure, cold rage” after a video emerged on Monday showing 18-year-old Henry Nowak desperately calling for help while the police arrested him last December. He died hours later. What exactly is the controversy? [...]
Kast’s honeymoon is over
Natalie Johnson
Kast’s honeymoon period is over, as soaring energy prices and issues with his flagship security policy have tanked his ratings. The right-wing leader is seeking a reset: in a bid to get the ball rolling on his security agenda, which he felt was moving too slowly, Kast pledged on Monday to intervene in 50 neighborhoods with high levels of criminal [...]
European Union flags are seen outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels April 12, 2006.

European Union flags are seen outside the European Commission headquarters in Brussels April 12, 2006.

REUTERS
The European Union is having a moment right now, as a number of countries that once rejected membership are suddenly flirting with the idea. After decades of keeping the bloc at arm’s length, for example, Norway and Iceland are both considering joining. Canada, an ocean away, has forged closer ties to the EU recently. And even the government of [...]
US manufacturers shedding jobs
Natalie Johnson
Investment in manufacturing construction has also fallen 16% during that period, despite public investment pledges of some $900 billion from companies over the past year and a half. Donald Trump has promised to use tariffs, deregulation, and tax cuts to spur a “golden age” of manufacturing in the United States. But despite a modest increase in [...]