Albeit that Pakistan is topping the lists among favorite tourist destinations, its own citizens, holding onto the green passport, are facing a downfall in terms of international travel. As per the latest Henley Passport Index, Pakistanis hold the 4th worst passport to travel in the world.
The Henley Passport Index ranks 107 countries from the world based on the visa-free access its passport grants to the citizens. Pakistan with only 32 countries’ visa-free access stands at 104th spot in this year’s ranking – sharing the rank with Somalia.
The topper of the chart this year is Japan with visa-free access to 191 countries worldwide. At the other end of the spectrum is Afghanistan at 107th spot and only 26 destinations that do not require a visa.
The top 10 countries on Henley’s Index are as follows.
1. Japan (191 destinations)
2. Singapore (190)
3. South Korea, Germany (189)
4. Italy, Finland (188)
5. Spain, Luxembourg, Denmark (187)
6. Sweden, France (186)
7. Switzerland, Portugal, Netherlands, Ireland, Austria (185)
8. United States, United Kingdom, Norway, Greece, Belgium (184)
9. New Zealand, Malta, Czech Republic, Canada, Australia (183)
10. Slovakia, Lithuania, Hungary (181)
Following in Pakistan’s league of least strong passports, were Afghanistan (26 destinations), Iraq (28), Syria (29), Pakistan, Somalia (32) and Yemen (33).
Other important countries like the UAE, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and China secured 18, 51, 66 and 72 spots respectively. While Russia has access to 118 countries, Saudi Arabia and China have visa-free access to 77 and 71 countries each.
UAE – showing a phenomenal growth – climbed up 47 spots this year and now has visa-free access to 171 countries.
Pakistan’s arch-rival India settled at 84th whereas neighboring Iran and Bangladesh shared 98th spot on the list.
