If you've ever seen two different visa-free numbers for the same passport and wondered why, this article explains it clearly enough that you'll never be confused again.
Two Tables, Two Publishers
Henley Passport Index is published by Henley & Partners, a consulting firm, using data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA)—the same data airlines use to decide whether to let passengers board.
Passport Index is published by Arton Capital, also a company in the citizenship and relocation investment industry.
Both are products of commercial companies, not government agencies. This doesn't make the data wrong, but it's worth knowing.
The Core Difference: E-Visas
This accounts for most of the discrepancy.
Henley does not count e-visas as visa-free. Their reasoning: you still have to fill out a form, submit documents, pay a fee, and wait for approval before going to the airport. If rejected, you cannot travel. Therefore, it's not truly visa-free.
Passport Index counts e-visas as visa-free destinations. Their reasoning: the process is completed online, typically approved within days to weeks, and rejection rates are low. For practical travelers, an e-visa is closer to visa-free than to a visa obtained at an embassy.
Both arguments have merit. They answer two different questions:
- Henley answers: where can I travel immediately?
- Passport Index answers: where can I travel if I'm willing to complete procedures first?
For the Vietnamese passport, for example, the gap between the two answers is 52 versus 98 destinations—nearly double.
The Second Difference: Ranking Method
Less frequently discussed but more commonly misunderstood.
There are two ways to rank when multiple entities share the same score:
Ranking by position. If two countries tie for 2nd place, the next country is ranked 4th. This is common in sports.
Ranking by distinct scores. If two countries tie for 2nd place, the next country is ranked 3rd. The rank only increases when the score changes.
Henley uses the second method. In their 2026 edition: Singapore is ranked 1st, Japan and South Korea are tied for 2nd, then Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, and Switzerland are all tied for 3rd.
With 199 passports but only roughly one hundred different score levels, this ranking method creates significant consequences: a passport can jump dozens of positions without any change in the number of accessible destinations, simply because other countries shift.
This is why headlines like "Passport X rises 5 positions" often carry less real significance than they appear. The number of accessible destinations is the indicator that truly reflects travel reality.
The Third Difference: Destination Sets
The two tables count from slightly different sets of destinations, because the world has no universally accepted definition of how many "countries" exist.
Some territories are counted separately in one table and grouped in another. Some autonomous regions are treated as independent destinations or not. These differences are usually small—a few destinations—but enough that the two tables will never perfectly align.
So Which Table Should You Trust
The answer isn't to choose one table, but to know what question you're asking.
If you're traveling urgently for business, booking a flight this week, and need to know where you can go immediately—use Henley's stricter count.
If you're planning a leisure trip two months in advance and don't mind completing an online visa application—Passport Index's broader count is closer to your actual situation.
If you're considering spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a second passport—don't rely on the total number from either table. Instead, ask specifically: can this passport get me into the specific countries I actually need? A passport that adds forty South Pacific island destinations but doesn't open the Schengen Area might look impressive numerically but is useless to someone doing business in Europe.
A Word of Caution: How These Numbers Are Used in Sales
In this industry, the visa-free number is a sales tool. And because there are two legitimate ways to count, sellers can always choose whichever number sounds better without lying.
Simple self-protection: when you hear a number, ask two questions. Does this count e-visas? And from which publication period?
An ethical seller answers immediately and clearly. Someone who dodges the question has already told you what you need to know.