The world’s Least powerful passports for 2025

The Weakest Passports in the World in 2025

When the Passport Index was read on 11 January 2025, the Syrian passport was last, with a mobility score of 40. Nine countries let Syrians in without a visa and 31 more gave one on arrival. The other 158 wanted the paperwork done before the trip. Afghanistan followed on 41, then Iraq and Somalia, joint 93rd on 46. Pakistan, Yemen, Palestine and Bangladesh come next, and four passports share 89th place on 53: North Korea, Eritrea, Sudan and Libya.

The timing matters for Syria. Its government had fallen only a month earlier, after more than a decade of civil war, so this score shows how the world treated a Syrian passport at that particular moment.

Visas on Arrival Prop Up the Weakest Passports

The mobility score counts every destination you can reach without applying in advance: visa-free entry, a visa on arrival, or an e-visa issued within three working days. Near the bottom, most of each score comes from visas on arrival. Not one of the twelve weakest passports opens 20 countries visa-free, and Bangladesh comes closest with 19. Afghanistan has just six, fewer than Syria. It stays off the bottom only because 35 countries offer a visa at the border, which usually costs money, may need proof of funds and can still be refused at the desk.

Weak Passports, Unstable States

Other governments decide how strong a passport is, and they pay close attention to instability. The World Bank’s political stability estimate shows the link. In its 2025 edition, nine of these twelve countries are among the 13 lowest readings of 211. Yemen has the lowest of all, Syria the third lowest and Somalia the fourth. Bangladesh, Eritrea and North Korea are the exceptions.

Displacement tells the same story. UNHCR’s refugee figures for the end of 2025 show that five of the ten largest refugee populations by country of origin come from this chart: Syria (4.87 million), Sudan, Afghanistan, Somalia and Eritrea. UN DESA also counts more than 7.5 million emigrants each from Syria, Bangladesh and Afghanistan, which places all three among the world’s ten largest diasporas. Countries that worry about overstays and asylum claims tend to answer with a visa requirement, and it applies to every traveller, including those who only want to visit.

Leaving Home Is a Separate Question

The Passport Index asks whether other countries let you in. V-Dem’s freedom of foreign movement score asks whether your own government lets you out. In its 2025 reading, North Korea has the lowest score of the 176 countries covered, Eritrea the third lowest and Afghanistan the fifth. For their citizens, the barrier is at both ends of the journey. Pakistan and Iraq sit near the middle of that list: leaving is fairly easy, and getting in somewhere else is the hard part.

Two Indexes, Two Different Last Places

Passport rankings do not always agree. The Henley Passport Index for January 2025, which counts 227 destinations, placed Afghanistan last with 26, not Syria. Each publisher counts in its own way, so compare a score only with others from the same index and date.

How Far Away the Top Is

The comparison rows show how slowly scores rise: Iran is 85th on 58, Egypt 77th on 67 and India 70th on 75. At the top of the same index, read that week, the UAE passport scored 180 and opened 133 countries with no visa at all, almost fifteen times Syria’s nine. The full top of the table is in the world’s most powerful passports for 2025.