India climbs seven points to 80 on Passport Index; Singapore at top position

Source: The post is based on the article “India climbs seven points to 80 on Passport Index; Singapore at top position”  published in The Hindu on 20th July 2023

What is the News?

Henley Passport Index 2023 has been released by the consultancy firm named ‘Henley & Partners’.

What is the Henley Passport Index?

​​Henley Passport Index is the ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. 

The index includes 199 passports and 227 travel destinations.

What are the key rankings of Henley Passport Index 2023?

Source: The Hindu

Globally: Singapore has topped the index. It is now officially the most powerful passport in the world with its citizens able to visit 192 travel destinations out of 227 around the world visa-free.

– Germany, Italy, and Spain occupied the second place. 

– Japan, which occupied the top position Index for five years, has dropped to the third place.

India: India has climbed seven places in 2023 and is ranked at 80th position. Indian citizens can now enjoy visa-free access to 57 destinations.

– In 2014, India was ranked 76 with 52 countries allowing Indian passport holders visa-free access but its performance has not been linear. 

– It ranked 88 in 2015 (visa-free access to 51 countries), 85 in 2016, 87 in 2017, 81 in 2018, 82 in 2019 and 2020, and 81 in 2021.

What is the Henley Openness Index?

Henley Openness Index measures how many nations does a country allows visa-free access to.

The top 20 ‘most open’ countries are all small island nations or African states, except for Cambodia.

Here, India was ranked 94 out of a total of 97 ranks for allowing only four countries visa-free access.