NEW DELHI – With access to 61 countries, the Indian passport has beenranked as the 79th most powerful by Henley and Partners Passport Index.Afghanistan and Iraq fares worst – at 104 – in the index while Pakistan isranked 102 with access to 33 countries.
Henley Index ranks world passports based on how travel-friendly they areand how many countries they can get the holder access to without a priorvisa.
The Indian passport holder can visit 61 countries without the need for apre-travel visa. This is almost double the number that the Pakistanipassport has access to. In fact, Pakistan only fares better than war-torncountries of Somalia, Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
The top-ranked passport in the index is that of Japan with citizens havingaccess to 190 countries. Singapore, South Korea are placed second withaccess to 189 each while France and Germany share the third spot withaccess to 188 each.
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The American passport gives its citizens access to 185 countries withoutthe need for a prior visa and shares the sixth spot with UK, Austria,Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, Belgium and Canada.
China is placed 69th on the list while India’s other neighbours – Bhutan(83rd), Sri Lanka (95th), Bangladesh (97th) and Nepal (98th) – don’t faretoo well.
