The Irish passport has been ranked as the third-most powerful passport in the world for 2024, according to the prestigious Henley Passport Index.
The Irish Passport, which jumped three places from 2023, ranks one place above the UK passport and four places above the US passport.
The Henley Passport Index (HPI) describes itself as the original, authoritative ranking of all the world’s passports and ranks passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. It is based on exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
The index creates scores based on the visa-free access of 199 different passports to 227 travel destinations. For each travel destination, if no visa is required, then a score of 1 is allocated for that passport.
The Irish passport now grants visa-free access to 192 destinations across the world, level with the Austrian, Danish, and Dutch passports.
Last year, the Irish passport received a score of 188, meaning it has added four new visa-free destinations over the past 12 months.
Passports from Germany, Spain, Italy, Singapore, and Japan top the ranking, granting access to 194 countries across the world.
The Finnish, South Korean, and Swedish passports are in second place in the new ranking, allowing passport holders to visit 193 countries across the world visa-free.
The UK passport, meanwhile, received a score of 191, while the US passport received a score of 188 and ranks alongside Canada and Hungary in seventh place.
On the other hand, the Afghan passport was ranked the least powerful passport in the world, granting visa-free access to just 28 different countries.
The Syrian passport was second-lowest in the new ranking, granting access to 29 countries. Meanwhile, the Iraqi passport ranked as the third-least powerful passport in the world, granting access to 31 destinations.
Click here to see the full ranking.
* Originally published in Jan 2024, updated in April 2024.
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