These are the best passports for travellers to hold in 2023

Japan starts 2023 with the world’s most powerful passport.

The US was among the top 22, with visa-free access to 186 places, matching the likes of Switzerland, New Zealand and Norway. China’s allows access to 80, the same as Bolivia’s. Russia’s is better, providing hassle-free entry to 118 destinations, while Afghanistan’s remained the weakest, with access to just 27.

A list of the most powerful passports in the world.

The ranking, published by London-based immigration consultancy Henley & Partners, uses data from the International Air Transport Association to rank 199 passports’ access to 227 travel destinations. The methodology differs from other passport indexes like one published by financial advisory Arton Capital, which put the United Arab Emirates in pole position.

A list of the least powerful passports in the world.

Separately, a Morning Consult poll conducted in July showed that 35% of adult respondents in Japan indicated they didn’t plan to ever travel for leisure again, a far higher percentage than the other 13 nations surveyed. South Korea was the next, with 15% saying the same.

Nearly 2 million people travelled overseas from Japan in the first 10 months of last year, according to the Japan National Tourism Organization, a long way off the 20 million that did so in all of 2019, before the pandemic.