- Tuesday, February 25, 2025
Last year, the South Asian nation was ranked 85th in January, but saw its position improving by five places in July.
By: Shubham Ghosh
THE latest Henley Passport Index has ranked India’s passport at the 80th position, which it shares with Uzbekistan. One hundred and ninety nine countries were ranked by the index.
The index measures the strength of all passports across the world based on how many destinations can be accessed by the holders of passport of a specific country without a pre-departure visa. Indians can travel to as many 62 countries without a visa.
Last year, the South Asian nation was ranked 85th in January, but saw its position improving by five places in July.
India’s rank is lower than that of the Maldives (58th), the island-nation in the Indian Ocean with which it found itself in a diplomatic row over controversial remarks made by some of its now suspended ministers against prime minister Narendra Modi.
Read: India moves up in passport index rankings, now at 80 with Singapore topping the list
China was ranked 62nd while Pakistan was placed at the 101st position.
As many as six countries were ranked at the top — France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and Spain. Citizens of these countries can travel to 194 destinations without a pre-departure visa.
Read: Twitter stunned as man shares late grandfather’s ‘British Indian passport’ issued in Lahore in 1931
This is the first time that six countries shared the top spot in the ranking.
The weakest passport continued to belong to Afghanistan, which was ranked 104th. Citizens of the Taliban-ruled country can visit only 28 countries.
Christian H Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners and the creator of the passport index, pointed out a widening global mobility gap between countries. Despite an overall trend indicating an increased travel freedom over the past two decades, the disparity between the top and bottom of the index has been at an all-time high.
According to Kaelin, the average number of destinations travellers can access without a visa has nearly doubled from 58 in 2006 to 111 in 2024.
Another passport ranking curated by Arton Capital, the United Arab Emirates possesses the strongest passport.
France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands are in the second position.
India was ranked at No.68 in the list, along with Cape Verde and Tanzania.
