Bhubaneswar: There is some good news for India, as the travel restrictions come bearing down on the global south, according to Henley Passport Index.
The Indian passport occupied 83rd position, gaining seven places from its 90th ranking in 2021. The rankings are carried out by Henley and Partners.
The London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm, with its Henley Passport Index, based on exclusive data provided by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), have been regularly monitoring the world’s most travel-friendly passports since 2006.
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.
The index doesn’t take temporary restrictions into account, so leaving actual current travel access aside, holders of the passports at the top of its ranking Japan and Singapore are able, in theory, to travel visa-free to 192 destinations.
Afghanistan, which sits at the bottom of the index is only able to afford its passport holders, visa-free access to 26 nations.
The widening gap between the global north and the global south, once described as being akin to “travel apartheid” by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is showcased clearly by the passport index in 2022 with Germany in second place, tied with South Korea (having a score of 190) and Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain all together in 3rd.
EU countries continue their domination of the top 5 spots, with France, Netherlands and Sweden climbing one spot to join Austria and Denmark in fourth place and Ireland and Portugal coming in fifth.
The United States and the United Kingdom remained stable, gaining one spot to come in together at 6th, after their fall from the top since 2014.
At the bottom of the list joining Afghanistan are Nepal and Palestinian territories (37), Somalia (34), Yemen (33), Pakistan (31), Syria (29) and Iraq (28).
The cause of the disparity between the world’s strongest and weakest passport (Afghanistan) have been attributed to the global pandemic, as well as the widening economic differences between the countries. Vaccine distribution, among the citizens of a nation, has played a major role in deciding their travelling freedom, during the years of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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