The Economist
13,119,475 followers
May 13, 2026
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Britons do not really love a queue. We do, however, enjoy moaning about them. Brexit was politically divisive, but it has united the country in a loathing of longer waits at European airports—except for my jammy compatriots eligible for an Irish passport.
In 2015 a British passport was the world’s most powerful, when ranked by the number of countries a holder can enter without a visa. Today those of 25 other countries beat it. Lots of those are, unsurprisingly, in the European Union. But the top three come from another part of the world entirely (and it’s not America).
Bo Franklin, Senior digital editor
Editor’s picks
The world’s most—and least—powerful passports
Americans’ travel documents aren’t as muscular as they used to be
How loyalty programmes are keeping America’s airlines aloft
Many carriers now make their money from credit-card deals
War is only the starkest way that politics is disrupting tourism
More people want to see the world—if geopolitics lets them
Why do tourists visit sites of atrocities?
Holidays in hell are horribly popular
Ryanair might be the world’s most successful airline
The low-cost carrier is flying high
