The HPI ranks all the world’s passports based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and according to the number of destinations holders can access without a visa. 

Similar to the previous year’s ranking, Japan and Singapore continue to rank first and second in 2021 with visa free access to 191 and 190 countries respectively. 

Passports from neighbouring Germany as well as South Korea take third place, enabling access to 189 destinations without a visa. 

The grand duchy, alongside Finland, Spain and Italy, comes in fourth place, similar to the previous year. The HPI indicates that the Luxembourg passport enables visa-free access to 188 destinations across the world. The grand duchy has been among the six most powerful passports globally for over a decade, according to the index. 

However, global travel has been significantly compromised in the past months and due to ongoing travel restrictions in light of the covid-19 pandemic. “Just a year ago all indications were that the rates of global mobility would continue to rise, that travel freedom would increase, and that holders of powerful passports would enjoy more access than ever before. The global lockdown negated these glowing projections, and as restrictions begin to lift, the results from the latest index are a reminder of what passport power really means in a world upended by the pandemic,” says Dr Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners.

Although with vaccines now slowly becoming available in most countries, hoping for a return to pre-pandemic travelling trends would be far from realistic says author Dr Parag Khanna: ““Even for still-powerful passports such as Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and members of the EU, additional protocols will be required to re-attain relatively frictionless mobility.”