According to the Global Mobility Report 2023 published by Henley & Partners on Tuesday, the Pakistani passport retains its position as the fourth-worst passport in the world, ranked 100th out of 103 countries. Singapore has overtaken Japan and now holds the title of the world’s most powerful passport.The passport rankings are based on the number of countries/destinations that passport holders can access without a prior visa, reflecting the number of destinations with visa-free access.
Singapore now has a score of 192, allowing its passport holders visa-free entry to 192 out of 227 destinations worldwide. On the other hand, the Pakistani passport offers visa-free entry to only 33 destinations.
Japan, which held the top position in the 2022 ranking, now stands at the third spot, providing visa-free access to 189 countries, a slight drop from the earlier 193. Austria, Finland, France, Luxembourg, South Korea, and Sweden join Japan in third place with the same access.
At the opposite end of the spectrum, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan have the weakest passports, with a score of 29, 30, and 27, respectively.
India, Pakistan’s neighboring country, ranks 80th, granting visa-free access to 57 destinations.
The Pakistani passport allows visa-free travel to a limited number of locations, including Barbados, Cook Islands, Micronesia, Niue, Vanuatu, Dominica, Haiti, Montserrat, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago. Additionally, Pakistani passport holders can enjoy visa-on-arrival facilities in countries like Palau Islands, Samoa, Tuvalu, Qatar, Cambodia, Maldives, Nepal, Timor-Leste, Burundi, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Mauritania, Mozambique, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Tanzania, Togo, with Barbados being the new addition to the list.
The report by Henley & Partners notes that the general trend over the years has been towards greater travel freedom, with the average number of visa-free destinations for travelers nearly doubling from 58 in 2006 to 109 in 2023. However, the gap in global mobility between countries at the top and bottom of the index is now wider than ever, with top-ranked Singapore having 165 more visa-free destinations than Afghanistan, the country with the least travel freedom.
