If you have a Canadian passport, you probably know it's an essential government document for travel. But just how powerful is it in comparison to other countries?

The Henley Passport Index, compiled by London-based investment migration consulting company Henley & Partners, has released its latest Official Passport Ranking.

The ranking uses exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA) and includes 199 different passports and 227 different passport destinations. It updates its rankings every quarter.

According to the ranking, the Canadian passport is now the seventh most powerful passport in the world, up one spot from the eighth-place ranking it maintained for the past three years. Canadians can travel visa-free to 185 countries.

The US passport came in eighth place, with visa-free travel to 184 countries.

Japan has long held the top spot for the most powerful passport in the world, but it's now dropped to third place, with visa-free travel to 189 countries.

Singapore has now taken the number one spot, with a visa-free travel score of 192.
There was a tie between Germany, Italy, and Spain for second place, indicating an improvement in passport power rankings for some EU nations, as Asian countries have dominated the top spots in the past.

As for the country with the lowest-ranking passport, Afghanistan only allows visa-free travel to 27 countries.

Dr. Juerg Steggen, CEO of Henley & Partners, notes in a release that the general trend of the Passport Index has been towards "travel freedom, with the average number of destinations travellers are able to access visa-free nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2023."

"However, the global mobility gap between those at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than it has ever been, with top-ranked Singapore able to access 165 more destinations visa-free than Afghanistan," he added.