South African passport slips further in Henley Passport Index
The South African passport has slipped one more position in the 2025 Henley & Partners Passport Index. Here’s what you need to know…
South Africa’s passport has lost more ground in global strength, according to the 2025 Henley Passport Index, which ranks the world’s passports based on the number of destinations citizens can access without a visa.
The index, regarded as the original and authoritative measure of passport power, revealed that South Africans now face more travel restrictions compared to previous years.
“With historical data spanning 19 years, the Henley Passport Index is the only one of its kind based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different travel destinations.” Henley & Partners says.
And now, according to these rankings, the SA passport has dropped a further spot from 49, now ranking at number 50 on the list of 199 passports.
Despite this, however, the index highlighted that South Africans with an SA passport can still travel to 104 destinations without requiring a visa.
The top passports of the world
Here are is the updated list of the top five most powerful passports:
| Rank | Country | Number of visa-free countries |
| 1 | Singapore | 193 |
| 2 | Japan | 190 |
| 2 | South Korea | 190 |
| 3 | Denmark | 189 |
| 3 | Finland | 189 |
| 3 | France | 189 |
| 3 | Germany | 189 |
| 3 | Ireland | 189 |
| 3 | Italy | 189 |
| 3 | Spain | 189 |
| 4 | Austria | 188 |
| 4 | Belgium | 188 |
| 4 | Luxembourg | 188 |
| 4 | Netherlands | 188 |
| 4 | Norway | 188 |
| 4 | Portugal | 188 |
| 4 | Sweden | 188 |
| 5 | Greece | 187 |
| 5 | New Zealand | 187 |
| 5 | Switzerland | 187 |