Italian passport ranked world’s second ‘most powerful’

An annual ranking put Italy in joint second place in terms of the number of countries its citizens can travel to without needing a visa.

Published: 21 July 2023 17:08 CEST

Italian passport ranked world's second 'most powerful'

People with an Italian passport can travel visa-free to more countries than most. Photo by ConvertKit on Unsplash

Italian citizens are allowed to travel to 190 countries and territories without first applying for a visa.

This puts Italy’s passport in second place in the Henley Passport Index 2023 – along with Germany and Spain, whose passports also open up 190 borders.

Only Singapore’s passport offers access to more destinations (192) according to the London law firm Henley & Partners, which runs the annual ranking.

Singapore is thus the new number one in the passport ranking.

For five years the top passport title went to Japan, which now only ranks third, along with Finland, France, Luxembourg, Sweden, South Korea and Austria.

Passport holders from these countries can enter 189 other countries without having to apply for a visa first. That means they can receive both visa-free entries and unbureaucratic visa issuance on arrival.

Italy allows citizens to hold more than one nationality, meaning if you become Italian you won’t have to give up your passport from your home country.

While the UK passport is now back in fourth place – two up from last year – after falling for several years in the ranking.

However, the US passport is not performing well.

“The US has dropped further by two ranks to eighth place, continuing its slide,” a statement on the ranking said. It is possible to travel to 184 countries with a US passport without applying for a visa.

For the past 18 years, Henley & Partners has listed the most powerful passports in the world.

The average number of countries to which people can travel without a visa has almost doubled since 2006: back then, the average was 58 countries, whereas today it stands at 109.

However, the differences between the most powerful and weakest passports have widened, the firm said.

Top-ranked Singapore offers 165 more countries to which citizens can travel without a visa compared to Afghanistan, the last place.

In the past ten years, Singapore, which has always been quite high in the ranking, has made another 25 countries visa-free for its citizens.