The global passport power rankings are in for summer 2026 – here’s where the UK ranks

Whether you’re carrying around a beautiful new blue passport or are counting down the days ‘til your worn out burgundy booklet needs renewing, there’s no denying the power of a British passport. It’ll let you travel to 186 destinations around the world without a prior visa, making it something of a golden ticket during holiday season.

But how does the UK passport shape up against other national travel documents across the globe? A new ranking has done the hard graft to work it out.

Each year, global mobility firm Global Citizen Solutions releases its annual Passport Index. Now in its fifth edition, it ranks passports from 199 countries on how well they perform across three categories. The first, mobility access, evaluates the number of countries people with that passport can travel to without a visa. The second, investment attractiveness, ranks countries based on their tax environment, innovation and economic competitiveness. The third looks at quality of life, from healthcare and safety to climate and social infrastructure.

Nine out of 10 of the world’s strongest passports come from European states in 2026, with the UK among them.

The British passport came in eighth place, ranking just below Ireland in seventh place and above Norway in ninth.

Patricia Casaburi, Global Citizen Solutions’ CEO, said the UK passport ‘held firm’ in 2026, ‘anchored by a quality-of-life score that sits among the world’s very best’. 

However, she noted that its mobility ranking, in 30th place, was particularly low for a passport listed among the strongest. She said: ‘That gap is the quiet signature of Brexit. The index measures visa-free travel, where the British passport remains strong, but it cannot capture what was actually lost: the automatic right of UK citizens to live, work and settle across twenty-seven European states.’

This year’s top spot went to Sweden, which has now held the crown for three consecutive years thanks to its impressive scores for quality of life and investment. You can read more about why Swedish passports are so powerful here.

Global Passport Index 2026 top 10 

1. Sweden
2. Switzerland
3. Finland
4. Germany
5. The Netherlands
6. Denmark
7. Ireland
8. United Kingdom
9. Norway
10. Singapore

Global Citizen Solutions isn’t the only place that ranks passport power. Consultancy firm Henley & Partners also compares the power of 199 of the world’s passports. Its results, released four times a year, are based on how many countries each one allows its holder to enter without a visa. The first Henley Passport Index of 2026 landed in January, putting the UK in seventh spot along with Australia, Latvia and Liechtenstein.

Did you see that three of the most beautiful cities in the world are in the UK?

Plus: this British airline has just been crowned the best in Europe.