Your UK Passport Is Now Weaker Than It Was This Time Last Year

You may not have realised, but not all passports are created equally. What nation you belong to can greatly affect which other countries you can freely enter. And while, as is the British way, we often assume we can go anywhere in the world we please, that’s not the case—in fact, your UK passport is now weaker than it was this time last year.

The annual Henley Passport Index ranks the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa (and includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations). For 2025, the UK passport has fallen to 6thwith visa-free access to only 186 destinations.

What are the strongest passports in the world?

The Singapore passport tops the index for a second year in a row (with access to 193 destinations), while Japanese and South Korean passports are joint second (190 destinations). What hurts the most, however, is that passports from France, Germany and Ireland are all considered better than ours.

A decade ago, from 2013 to 2015, it was the UK passport that sat top of the global power rankings. But it hit its lowest point in 2020 and 2021 when it sat in 7th (if anyone can remember what happened around then, let me know). Last year, we’d risen to 4th, however, and could visit 191 destinations.

Still, we should count ourselves lucky. Elsewhere, the US passport dropped from 9th to 10th place—its worst position since the index started in 2006—while Afghanistan continues to sit bottom of the Henley Passport Index rankings with access to only 25 destinations.

Which destinations can’t I travel to visa-free with a UK passport?

Afghanistan, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, China, Congo (Dem. Rep.), Congo (Rep.), Cote d’Ivoire, Cuba, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Honduras, India, Iran, Liberia, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, North Korea, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Russian Federation, South Sudan, Sudan, Syria, Togo, Turkmenistan, Uganda, and Yemen.