A Japanese passport is the most powerful in the world, providing hassle-free entry to 193 countries, according to the latest Henley Passport ranking. Japan is followed by by Singapore and South Korea, which provide entry to 192 countries.
The Henley Passport Index is a ranking of all the world's 199 passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world's largest database of travel information.
Among other top-ranked countries are mostly European nations, the US and the United Kingdom. Germany and Spain allow entry to 190 nations, United States to 186 nations, and Australia and Canada to 185 nations.
India, along with Mauritius and Tajikistan, has been ranked 87th, with its passport providing access to 67 countries. Afghanistan's passport is the least useful, getting the holder into only 27 countries.
The Pakistani passport continues to be the fourth-worst in the world, providing access to only 32 destinations. Pakistan is ranked only higher than conflict-ravaged Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan
China is tied with Bolivia for the 69th spot, with each of their passports allowing access to 80 destinations.
India's neighbour Bangladesh occupies the 104th position, with its passport holders having access to 41 countries
Russian passport is ranked 50th, giving easy access to 119 nations.
The index, however, only provides a hypothetical glimpse of the greatest documents to hold as the world emerges from the Covid pandemic. Travel around the world is yet to fully recover from Covid restrictions.
Henley & Partners Chairman Christian Kaelin said in a statement, "The recovery and reclamation of our travel freedoms, and our innate instinct to move and migrate, will take time."
As recently as 2017, Asian countries barely featured among the world's 10 most-accepted passports, according to the index. Europe's domination has gradually eased and Germany now trails South Korea.
As per the ranking till 2017, Asian countries hardly ever appeared among the top 10 most-accepted passports. Presently, Europe's dominance has increasingly waned and Germany now trails South Korea. According to the most recent ranking, the US is ranked seventh, while the UK is ranked sixth.
The index, which is based on data spanning 17 years, aids wealthy individuals, and governments in evaluating the worth of citizenships around the world by identifying which passports provide the greatest amounts of visa-free or visa-on-arrival access.