Finland holds the world's happiest passport, scoring 93.2 out of 100 in a new ranking, while the United Kingdom places 17th with a score of 77.8. The findings come from migration firm Global Citizen Solutions, which assessed passports not just on travel access but on wellbeing, freedom, mobility, prosperity, health and safety.
Nordic Nations Dominate the Top Five
Scandinavian countries take the first three positions, with Iceland second at 92.4 and Denmark third at 92.1. Norway follows in fourth with 89.3, and Switzerland rounds out the top five at 88.3. Sweden ranks sixth, the Netherlands seventh, and New Zealand and Singapore are the only non-European nations in the top ten, placing eighth and tenth respectively.
The study notes that the happiest countries also tend to hold some of the strongest passports, with Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland appearing in the top ten on both measures. However, the correlation weakens further down the list, as Portugal and Greece hold passports among the ten strongest but rank 39th and 43rd on life evaluation, while Costa Rica and Israel are among the ten happiest countries but hold passports in the bottom half.
UK Sits Behind Spain and Canada
Britain's score of 77.8 places it after Spain in 16th and Canada in 15th, and ahead of Italy, France and Japan, which rank 18th, 19th and 20th respectively. The bottom ten of the list includes three African countries, three from the Asia-Pacific region, two from Latin America, one from the Middle East and one from Eurasia, with Kenya at the very bottom scoring 22.4.
Dr Laura Madrid, lead researcher at Global Citizen Solutions, told Euronews that among wealthier countries, happiness correlates far more strongly with freedom than with passport strength, adding that a passport offers "choice beyond the border." The full Happy Passports Index 2026 lists 50 countries, with Finland leading at 93.2 and the UK at 77.8 in 17th place.
