October the 15th, 2025 – Croatia is continuing to climb up the Henley Passport Index rankings. The Croatian passport is now more powerful than the US passport, which has dropped off the top 10 list completely for the first time ever.
Just over 30 years ago, Croatia was at war as Yugoslavia collapsed and the Serbs decided to attempt to lay claim to this land. Joined by their Montenegrin hangers-on, Croatian territory was once again seriously threatened, being shelled, bombarded and looted as the world looked on. Back then, as what is now the Mediterranean’s tourism gem of Dubrovnik lay in smouldering darkness, surrounded on all sides by toothless Chetniks and Montenegrin looters, few could have imagined Croatia’s glistening future.
The country of Croatia rose from the ashes with very little help from elsewhere. In doing so, it has transformed into something rather incredible on the global scale. Rising to the top as Europe’s tourism star, developing an enviable tech and robotics scene in which startups keep springing up like mushrooms, and being praised worldwide for being among the safest countries on Earth. All of this is a far cry from being the spoils of the Yugoslav breakdown that everyone wanted a piece of.
the croatian passport continues to rise
This has been reflected year on year by the rather niche but very important Henley Passport Index, which records the power of passports from around the world. This gives us not only a glimpse into who can go where without a visa, but also of a country’s stability, how well it is faring, and what the world thinks of its citizens. The Croatian passport has been rising and rising throughout the years, and with the US passport not even being on the top 10 list anymore, this speaks volumes about the steps this little nation which has been so pulled from pillar to post for centuries has achieved.
from warzone to independent tourism gem, eu member state, eurozone, schengen, visa-free access to the usa and oecd ambitions
The rise of Croatia can never be explained without mentioning the war (I honestly don’t want to sound like Uncle Albert from Only Fools and Horses, but it’s the truth), but its achievements don’t begin and end there. Since that dark period closed, Croatia has gained its independence, become a tourism jewel in Europe’s crown, joined the European Union, joined the Eurozone and Schengen on the same date, becoming the first country to ever do so, been approved visa-free access to the USA and now has some impressive OECD ambitions.
It’s the little country that could, did, and has.
This is all reflected in how the Croatian passport and its power is seen on a global level. According to the Henley Passport Index alone, the trusty little blue passport – so stark in its colour difference to other burgundy EU travel documents – has climbed up the ladder.
Now in an incredibly impressive 8th place in the world on the ranking, equal with the powerful British passport, Croatian passport holders enjoy visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 184 countries. The Croatian passport is now one of the world’s most powerful, jumping from 14th place.
the us passport drops off the top 10 list completely
As CNN/Maureen O’Hare writes, the Henley Passport Index is one of several rankings measuring passport potency. For the very first time in its 20-year history, the US passport has fallen out of its top 10 list altogether. Frankly, it isn’t particularly difficult to see why.
Unsurprisingly, three different Asian passports now command the top of the leaderboard: the mighty Singaporean passport, with visa-free access to 193 destinations worldwide, followed by the passport held by South Korean citizens, with access to 190; followed by the Japanese passport, with 189.
The US passport is no longer anywhere to be seen in the top 10 list, in which Croatia can be seen. It has dropped down to 12th place, equal to the Malaysian passport. It held the top spot back in 2014, and is now no longer even within the company of the top 10 most powerful passports in the world.
the croatian passport – documenting croatia’s achievements
Few could have ever imagined the Croatian passport overtaking the US passport a decade or so ago, let alone before that. For all of the flaws this country still has (and trust me, there are many), we should always take the time to celebrate what it has managed to achieve in the face of some truly unbelievable challenges. Seeing the nation’s travel document rise as it has is a small but significant testament to that.
