In geopolitics, the strength of a country's passport is an important indicator of its soft power. With a strong passport, citizens can travel freely around the world without needing a visa. The Henley Passport Index ranks countries based on the strength of their passports, and in 2024 France topped the list. The passport gives him visa-free access to 194 countries.
Along with France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and Spain are at the top of the list.
Even though the number of countries whose citizens can enter without a visa has increased from 60 to 62 by 2023, India has fallen one place from last year to 85th place. The ranking of crises affecting Pakistan remained at 106th place, the same as last year, but Bangladesh fell from 101st place. This year is 2023-102.
Meanwhile, India's maritime neighbor Maldives is ranked 58th, giving its citizens visa-free access to 96 countries.
China marginally moved up from 66th place in 2023 to 64th this year as it granted visa-free access to many European countries to revive its tourism sector in the post-pandemic economy. Despite America's anti-immigration stance likely to be a polarizing issue in the upcoming presidential election, the country's ranking rose from seventh to sixth.
Henry Passport Index Method
“With 19 years of historical data, the Henry Passport Index is the only of its kind based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA). The index includes 199 different passports and 227 different Contains travel destinations. Updated monthly, the Henley Passport Index is the standard reference for global citizens and sovereign nations when assessing where a passport ranks on the global mobility spectrum. It is considered a tool,” Henry Passport Index said on its website while sharing details about the data.
The rankings show that global mobility has changed significantly over the past two decades, with visa-free travel to an average of 58 countries in 2006 to almost double this year to 111 countries. It increased to
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