Only three nations are ranked below Pakistan in the Henley Passport Index
The Henley Passport Index on Tuesday released its first report of the new year, retaining the Pakistani passport’s rank at 104 out of 107 for the third year running over the paltry 32 nations that holders can travel to without visas.
Powered by the International Air Transport Association, the Henley Passport Index measures global access on the basis of nationality. It’s ranking of 200 countries provides an in-depth picture of travel freedom, including the countries a given passport allows people access to and the types of visas required.
In its latest report, the Index found that only 32 nations allow visa-free access to Pakistan, tied with Somalia. The only countries with less travel freedom are Syria (with 29 visa-free options); Iraq (28); and Afghanistan (26). Neighboring India, meanwhile, ranks at 84 with 58 nations offering its nationals visa-free or visa-on-arrival access.
The strongest passport, meanwhile, was found to be that of Japan. According to the Index, the Japanese can avail visa-free, or visa-on-arrival, access to 191 destinations around the world. Singapore comes in second with 190; while South Korea and Germany are tied in third place with 189.
The report notes that the gap between the highest and lowest ranking states—Japan and Afghanistan—is the largest it has been since the Index launched in 2006. A Japanese passport holder can access 165 more destinations than a holder of Afghanistan’s, it noted.
The U.S. and the U.K., meanwhile, continued to slide down the rankings. They currently are tied in eighth place with 184 options for ease of travel—a dramatic drop from the number one spot they jointly held in 2015.
The report noted that the biggest success story of the past decade was the U.A.E., which has climbed 47 places in 10 years and is currently at 18th place, with a visa-free/visa-on-arrival score of 171.
Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, chairman of Henley & Partners and the inventor of the passport index concept, says the rise of Asian nations proves the benefits of “open-door policies and the introduction of mutually beneficial trade agreements.” The Index also cited political science researchers Uğur Altundal and Ömer Zarpli, of Syracuse University and the University of Pittsburgh respectively, to have found a strongly positive correlation between travel freedom and other kinds of liberties—from the economic to the political, and even individual freedoms.
“There’s a distinct correlation between visa freedom and investment freedom, for instance. Similar to trade freedom, countries that rank highly in investment freedom generally have stronger passports. European states such as Austria, Malta, and Switzerland clearly show that countries with a business-friendly environment tend to score highly when it comes to passport power. Likewise, by using the Human Freedom Index, we found a strong correlation between personal freedom and travel freedom,” Henley quoted them as saying.
The countries* that Pakistanis can visit without going through grueling visa approvals are: Cambodia, Maldives, Nepal, Timor-Leste, Cape Verde Islands, Comores Islands, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Palau Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Dominica, Haiti, Montserrat, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Qatar. Of these, all but eight require travelers to obtain visa-on-arrival.
*This list is subject to change based on the individual policies of the states listed.
View Comments (44)
Relax. It will take time for it all to turn around.
My question to Dr. Christian Kaelin, the inventor of Henley Index and other researchers at Syracuse and Pittsburgh universities is that while there is a certain positive correlation among personal freedom, travel freedom, economic (trade and investment) freedoms, who is to blame for the negative correlation for countries like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Iran and Syria for being the lowest ranked and weakest passport holders?
Did by any chance, these weak passport countries self-bomb and inflict upon themselves all the negative conditions to destroy their own personal, political and economic freedoms and weaken their passports?
Or, are the perpetrators who happen to have stronger passports, primarily responsible as causative agents of chaos, mayhem, economic and political instability in the lowest ranked countries.
Is it a mere coincidence that countries that were intentionally pushed into unwanted wars and conflicts by US, Russia and their allies such as Saudi Arabia and UAE - all happen to be the same war-torn countries that have been relegated to the worst ranked passport holder nations?
Let's not be smug in ignoring historical, political and regional conflicts and wars that have destroyed cultures, economies and freedoms of the countries in the conflict zones by the main perpetrators US, UK and their Western and Middle Eastern Allies.
Singapore and Dubai, Japan and South Korea are well protected by America . These nations are politically relatively stable and technologically advanced economies. They cannot be ranked on the same stringent criteria with the oil rich Saudi Arabia and the European Union.
Thus the metrics for the socially, politically and economically stable countries cannot be comparable to Somalia, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Iran and Pakistan for starkly historical reasons.
In conclusion, the Henley Index is very unhelpful in promoting direly needed tourism to the poorest countries . It is also disparaging and particularly unfair to the countries in a state of perpetual conflict imposed on them by external forces for no fault of their own, without their choice.
No country stops anyone from using their passport to visit another country. The restrictions are almost always reciprocal.
Well-said.
Well said mashallah
Very well said nd much appreciated
The only bright spot from this list is Qatar!! Which really is a miracle being the richest country per capita wise,that such a wealthy & influential country could give free visa to a condemned hated country !!!!...
What a fuck Henley index and his fucking team.we love our pride country Pakistan and from their own fucking ranking its shows how narrow minded this fucking team obout Muslim countries. Now doubt about anything we don't want to go either in any country. We want to work hard for only our love country Pakistan to make great. Great country for investment. You can earn more than you think cause this country have no worry about prises.u earn a lot not even any other country. Henley I want to let you know one thing more now we work to build a nation so we don't need to go anywhere.
very good article by Mr. Yasir
This ranking shows our national image, so your comment doesn’t make much difference we already pissed off. Keep going.
No one should care, Pakistan was established on the Kalima and that's what that passport represents, The zionist Satan worshiping dajjals can't handle that and hence the low rating, it kills them to see Pakistan and Pakistanis, regardless of how well Pakistan is doing they will always put Pakistan down in the rankings, you shouldn't care one bit what rankings the white devil colonialist give because they're opinion is obsolete, the terrorist state of america should have the worst ranking followed by the uK for starting 6 wars in past decade.
Wow ????????
Angreed
I m feeling very happy that ur thoughts about Muslims are good. Thank u very much...
We Pakistani s have strong believe that we will remain till end of this world insha ALLAH.
And keep fighting this war of goodness and evil...
GOOD ????
Recently Pakistan has taken a lot of steps in view to promote her tourism industry and liberally invited world investors to invest in
Pakistan. A huge area of natural beauty awaits world nature lovers to invent & enjoy untouched lofty locations.
absolutely right,
There is good and bad people every where in the world.but still I love my country Pakistan and respect all countries in the world.long live pakistan
No Pakistani should ever worry about what the media mercenaries say........period.
very helpful post
Shame on Pakistani government's policies
Are you stupid. You useless moron
Please do not put everything into politics.
Thank you for sharing
pakistan no one in passport
in the world
all over the world best people are pakistani professor docter engineers in all fields
all world offering pakistani people there passport
world best neuclear power
pakistan the best country in the world
all super powers need visa for pakistan
to come
pakistan zinda bad
pakistan paenda bad