• The United Kingdom driving licence fell from being the strongest to the weakest licence in a study by comparethemarket.com.au

• France maintained its overall score and now holds the title of the most powerful driving licence for international driving purposes

• Australia’s score dropped points but the country maintained it’s position of 8^th due to other countries dropping even further

In a comparison by Compare the Market, the power of 22 countries’ driving licences has been ranked based on their ability to be used abroad with ease and without restrictions.

The most powerful driving licence is that of France, where drivers face little to no restrictions when travelling on many international roads, such as those in Finland, Germany, New Zealand and Japan.

The biggest change was the United Kingdom driving licence, which has dropped from the most to the least powerful after Brexit took place earlier last year.¹ Access to driving in most European countries became considerably more difficult, where countries such as Italy and Spain fell from having no restrictions to implementing more complicated processes.

Australia’s driving licence score decreased slightly, however their ranking stayed consistent at 8^th due to other countries falling even further down the ranks.

According to Compare the Market, Switzerland showed the biggest rank increase from holding the 13^th position in 2016, to a joint 3^rd place in 2021 below France and Belgium (tied with Germany and Sweden).

The countries with the most powerful licences:

1. France

2. Belgium

3. Germany / Sweden / Switzerland

4. Italy / Spain

5. Finland

6. USA

7. Canada

8. Australia

9. New Zealand

10. Japan

The countries with the weakest licences:

1. United Kingdom

2. Mexico / Russia

3. Brazil

4. Saudi Arabia

5. China / India

To see how the driving licence of all 22 countries perform, visit comparethemarket.com.au.

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