Germany Has World’s Most Powerful Passport; India Ranks Lowly At #81 But Ahead Of Pakistan, North Korea
As per the recent Passport Index ranking of World’s most powerful, efficient and popular passports, India has a disappointing presence. With only a visa-free score of only 46, we are ranked #81 out of 98 in the list.
In fact, we have tied up with Jordan, a country whose total area is 89,000 square kms (India has area of 3.2 million sq kms) and a population of 9.5 million, against India’s 1.2 billion population.
Recently, Hong Kong stopped visa-free travel for Indian passport holders. India’s less-than-enthusiastic ranking could have been influenced by this decision as well.
As a saving grace, we have beaten Pakistan (#97 out of 98), North Korea (#88 out of 98), Nepal ( #90 out of 98) and Sri Lanka (#92 out of 98). China, our dominant neighbor has been ranked #69, with a visa-free score of 58. Interestingly, China has tied-up with countries like Indonesia, Zimbabwe & Armenia. (note here, that several media outlets have said that China is ranked lower than India. These reports are false)
Germany has World’s most powerful passport, as it has been ranked #1 in this ranking with a visa-free score of 158, which means that 158 countries allow German passport holders to visit their countries without any visa. Comparably, only 46 countries allow Indian passport holders to do the same.
Singapore, the mecca of global business, is Asia’s most powerful country when it comes to passport, as it has beaten South Korea to reach #2 rank. Along with Sweden, Singapore has a visa-free score of 157.
UK, along with Denmark, Finland, France, Spain, Switzerland, Norway and USA has been ranked #3 with a visa-free score of 156. While at #4 are countries like Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Portugal, Luxembourg and Japan with visa-free score of 155.
An interesting addition to this year is a new list called ‘World’s Most Welcoming Countries’. In this list, 13 countries have topped the list, as they don’t require any visa from passengers visiting their countries: Cambodia, Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Madagascar, Mauritania, Micronesia, Mozambique, Samoa, Seychelles, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tuvalu and Uganda.
Whereas, World’s least welcoming countries are: Afghanistan, Somalia and Turkmenistan as these require visa from everyone visiting them.
As per Arton Capital, which prepares this passport index, this ranking has been based on passports of 193 UN member countries, and 6 territories, which includes ROC Taiwan, Macao (SAR China), Hong Kong (SAR China), Kosovo, Palestinian Territory and the Vatican.
Territories which doesn’t issue visa have been excluded from this list: Norfolk Island (Australia), French Polynesia (France), British Virgin Islands (Britain).
You can access the complete ranking here.
