The Ranking Of World Passports: Where Does Pakistan Stand And Why?

(MENAFN- Tribal News Network) Did you know who ranks the world's passports and how it's done? What is the ranking of the Pakistani passport, and what are the reasons behind it? Let's dive into these details in today's blog.

Henley Passport Index: The Global Passport Rankings

Recently, London-based company Henley Global released its annual ranking of the world's most powerful and weakest passports in its Henley Passport Index.

This ranking is based on the number of destinations passport holders can visit without a visa or with a visa on arrival. The results for the Pakistani passport may surprise you-yes, you will be astonished!

According to the Henley Index, Singapore holds the title of the world's most powerful passport, with its citizens able to travel visa-free to 195 countries.

Following Singapore, Italy, France, Japan, Germany, and Spain are in second place, allowing their citizens visa-free access to 192 countries.

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In third place are Austria, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Sweden, whose citizens can travel to 191 countries without a visa.

In fourth place are the United Kingdom, Belgium, Denmark, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland, allowing visa-free travel to 190 countries.

Australia and Portugal come in fifth, with their passports enabling travel to 189 countries visa-free.

Once considered the world's most powerful passport, the United States passport has dropped to eighth place in the new Henley Index report, allowing visa-free travel to 186 countries. This is a significant decline for the American passport.

Pakistan and Yemen share the 100th position, with their citizens able to travel to only 33 countries without a visa. Unfortunately, Pakistan is among the four weakest passports globally. It is even ranked lower than Somalia, one of Africa's most underdeveloped countries. Iraq is ranked 101st, with its citizens able to travel to 31 countries, Syria is 102nd with access to 28 countries, and Afghanistan ranks lowest at 103rd, with Afghan citizens able to visit only 26 countries without a visa.

You might find it surprising to learn that until the 1970s, the Pakistani passport was among the strongest in the world, allowing visa-free or visa-on-arrival travel to several European countries, including the UK.

Over the past decade, the Pakistani passport has been ranked very low. You might wonder on what basis these rankings are determined. The ranking considers several factors, including the country's security situation, the state of democracy, the presence or absence of terrorism, international relations, and the country's global standing. It also looks at how often the country's citizens travel abroad and whether they return home after their visas expire or become illegal immigrants. The level of education and professionalism of the citizens also plays a role. The most critical factor is the number of countries a passport holder can visit without a visa.

Given these factors, it's no surprise that the Pakistani passport ranks low. Many Pakistanis travel illegally to other countries and live as undocumented immigrants, eventually getting deported, which tarnishes the reputation of our passport.

In conclusion, this situation has arisen due to our actions. When we don't value our own country, this is bound to happen. Pakistan belongs to all of us, and it's our collective responsibility to enhance its reputation. It's not an impossible task. If today our passport ranks among the weakest, a time will come when it will be among the strongest. But for that, we need to work hard. We need to create value for our passports ourselves.

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