Citizenship and residence consultancy firm Henley and Partners is ranking country passports based on permits for visa-free travel. It takes into account the number of destinations that a passport holder can visit without a pre-travel visa application. Moreover, with global travel now at around 75% of pre-pandemic levels, the index has linked international travel with a country’s access to Global GDP.
According to The Henley Passport Index, India ranks 85th on the list of the world’s most powerful passports. India shared the 85th position with Uzbekistan and Mauritania. The list published by citizenship and residence consultancy firm Henley and Partners included names of 199 countries. The new ranking moves India two places ahead of last year. With an Indian passport, one can travel to 59 countries without a pre-approved visa, the index further found.
Japan has been named the world’s most powerful passport for the fifth straight year. With a Japanese passport, individuals can travel to 193 out of 227 countries around the world without a pre-approved visa.
Singapore and South Korea, which are tied for second place on the list, enjoy a score of 192 on the visa-on-arrival/visa-free scale. The third place goes to Spain and Germany, with each country having access to 190 countries.
The US and the UK are currently in 7th and 6th place, with scores of 186 and 187, respectively. It is almost impossible for either of these countries to regain the top spot on the list, which they held almost a decade ago.
Afghanistan, which is ranked 109th on the list, has the weakest passport in the world. Its citizens can only travel to 27 countries without a pre-approved visa. Another country that has a weak passport is Pakistan, which is in the 106th spot. Its citizens can travel to 32 nations without a visa.
The study also links Passport Index data with World Bank GDP data and in terms of percentage of global GDP, the US and China have 25% and 19% access respectively, but American passport holders can access a further 43% of the world’s economic output visa-free, bringing their total to 68%, whereas Chinese passport holders can only access an additional 7% visa-free, taking their total access to just 26% of global GDP.
The index is based on the data collected by the International Air Traffic Authority. It takes a look at the number of travel destinations a passport can travel to.
The Index further concludes that around 6% of passports worldwide allow their holders to travel to over 70% of the world’s economy without a visa. On the other hand, only 17% of countries grant passport holders visa-free entry to more than four-fifth of the world’s 227 destinations.