Henley Passport Index 2024: What is India's rank among other countries?

World's most powerful passport: The least powerful passport in the world is Afghanistan, which ranked at 104th spot with visa-free access to 28 countries

The Henley Passport Index 2024 was released on Wednesday, highlighting the "power" of passports of 199 countries. The index, which ranks countries based on the number of destinations that allow visa-free entry to their passport, was topped by France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore and Spain. Passports of all these countries have visa-free access to 194 destinations, three more than last year.

Japan and Singapore have continued to top the list for five years now. 

South Korea, Sweden and Finland rose one spot to take joint second place, with access to 193 countries. Austria, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands shared third place, allowing travel to 192 places.

The UK and US passports ranked fourth and seventh, respectively, with access to 191 and 188 destinations.

World's most powerful passports: Where does India stand?

According to the latest ranking, India stands at the 80th rank in the list of most powerful passports. Its passport has visa-free access to 62 nations, including Angola, Barbados, Bhutan, Bolivia, Djibouti, El Salvador, Jamaica, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Nepal, Qatar and Zimbabwe.

India shares the rank with Uzbekistan.

In 2023, too, India's passport was ranked at the 80th spot, up five places from 2022. However, the number of visa-free destinations has jumped from 57 to 62 this year.

Which are the least powerful passports in the world?

The least powerful passport in the world is Afghanistan. It ranked at 104th spot with access to 28 countries. It is followed by Syria (103), Iraq (102), Pakistan (101) and Yemen (100).

Which passports have shown the most improvement in ranking?

The United Arab Emirates was the fastest climber over the past decade, jumping to 11th place and offering access to 183 destinations without a visa. China, up two spots this year to 62nd place, has visa-free access to 85 destinations — almost twice as many as ten years ago.