Henley Passport Index: Upward mobility
This year’s scores on the Henley Passport Index, which tracks how easily people can travel abroad, are out. For the past five years, Singapore and Japan have been contenders for the honour of issuing the most powerful passports, granting their holders access to more of the world’s countries without a prior visa than others.
Now France, Germany, Italy and Spain have made gains to share the top rank with those two rich Asian countries. Their passport bearers have access to 194 of 227 destinations.
South Korea, Sweden and Finland are second ranked, followed by Austria, Denmark, Ireland and the Netherlands. India’s passport has gone up by four spots from last year and is No.
80, with 62 destinations allowing Indians entry without an advance visa. The UAE has been the biggest climber over the past decade, having added 106 places to its tally since 2014.
While the general trend over the years has been towards more travel freedom, with travellers easily able to visit an average of 111 countries in 2024, up from 58 in 2006, the gap between the most welcomed and least remains too wide. Let’s see how fast India’s economic emergence opens gates for Indian globe-trotters.
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