What is the News?
The Henley Passport Index 2022 has been released.
What is the Henley Passport Index?
Released by: Henley and Partners, a London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm since 2005.
Purpose: To rank 199 passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
Source of Data: The index is based on exclusive data provided by the International Air Transport Association(IATA).
What are the key findings of the Henley Passport Index 2022?
India’s ranking has improved this time. It now ranks at 83rd in the Index, climbing seven places from 90th rank in 2021.
India now has visa-free access to 60 destinations worldwide, with Oman and Armenia being the latest additions. India has added 35 more destinations since 2006.
Japan and Singapore have topped the index. The citizens of these countries can travel visa-free to 192 destinations.
In 2006, an individual could on average visit 57 countries visa-free. Currently, that number has risen to 107. However, this overall increase marks a growing disparity between countries in the global north and those in the global south with nationals from countries such as Sweden and the US able to visit more than 180 destinations visa-free while passport holders from Angola, Cameroon, and Laos can only enter about 50.
Source: This post is based on the article “India’s passport rank improves to 83 from 90” published in The Hindu on 12th January 2022.
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