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The world's strongest passport is Singapore. India's rank is...

In the latest ranking, Japan, which was in the top spot for the last five years, dropped to third, with visa-free access to 189 nations around the world.

Published on: Jul 18, 2023, 19:32:28 IST
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Singapore has replaced Japan as the most powerful passport among all passports in the world, as it allows visa-free access to as many as 192 global destinations, according to the latest ranking published by Henley Passport Index, released on Tuesday.

Singapore passport holders have visa-free access to 192 out of 227 global destinations. (File)
Singapore passport holders have visa-free access to 192 out of 227 global destinations. (File)

In the latest ranking, Japan, which was in the top spot for the last five years, dropped to third, with visa-free access to 189 nations around the world. It shares its position with Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, South Korea and Sweden.

India, on the other hand, improved its position by 5 spots from last year, and is currently ranked 80th on the index along with Togo and Senegal, with visa-free access to 57 countries.

The US, which once topped the ranking nearly a decade ago, slid two places to eighth place. The UK, after a Brexit-induced slump, jumped two places to fourth, a position it last held in 2017.

At the bottom of the list is Afghanistan with easy access to 27 destinations. Yemen (99), Pakistan (100), Syria (101) and Iraq (102) round up the bottom five.

Passports of these countries hold the top 10 spots on the Henley Index:

RankCountryVisa-free travel to (out of 277 nations)
1Singapore192
2Germany, Italy, Spain190
3Austria, Finland, France, Japan, South Korea, Luxembourg, Sweden189
4Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, UK188
5Belgium, Czech Republic, Malta, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland187
6Australia, Hungary, Poland186
7Canada, Greece185
8Lithuania, US184
9Latvia, Slovakia, Slovenia183
10Estonia, Iceland182

Passports of these countries hold the bottom 10 spots on the Henley Index:

RankCountryVisa-free travel to (out of 277 nations)
103Afghanistan27
102Iraq29
101Syria30
100Pakistan33
99Yemen, Somalia35
98Palestinian territory, Nepal38
97North Korea39
96Bangladesh40
95Sri Lanka, Libya41
94Kosovo42

Invented nearly 20 years ago by Dr Christian H Kaelin, Chairman, Henley & Partners, the index is based on the exclusive and official data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA). It is the original ranking of all the passports according to the number of destinations their holders can visit without a prior visa.

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