Henley Passport Index 2019

GS-II: Henley Passport Index 2019

Context

The latest Henley Passport Index ranks India at 86, down five places from 81 in 2018. The index ranks passports based on their power and mobility. Last year, an Indian passport holder had visa-free access to 60 countries this year, it has access to 58.

Henley Passport Index 2019

Prepared by Henley and Partners, a London-based global citizenship and residence advisory firm, the Henley Passport Index claims to be the “original ranking of all the world’s passports”.
The index gathers data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) that manages inter-airline cooperation globally.
The Index is updated in real time according to countries’ visa policy changes. It covers 227 destinations and 199 passports.
The index receives data from the IATA on a fixed day every year that forms the basis of the index.

How are passport ranks and scores interpreted?

Each passport is attributed with a score and a rank.
For instance for 2019, India’s score is 58 and it ranks 86 in the list. Japan and Singapore, on the other hand, are ranked 1 and have a score of 189.
The score is the sum of the number of countries accessible by that passport holder without requiring pre-departure government approval for visa-types including a visitor’s permit, visa on arrival or an electronic travel authority (ETA).
For every territory/country that a passport holder of a particular country/territory is able to access through these visa types (without pre-departure government approval), a value of 1 is attributed to it.

What does this mean for Indian passport holders?

India has a score of 58. That is the number of destinations an Indian passport holder can travel to today, without pre-departure government approval.
That is the same as a citizen of any country, on an average, could travel to 13 years ago.
In 2006, a citizen, on an average, could travel to 58 destinations without needing a visa from the host nation; by 2018, this number had nearly doubled to 107.
Afghanistan holds the weakest passport, with a score and ranking of 25 and 109, respectively. Syria and Pakistan follow with rankings of 107 and 106 and scores of 29 and 30, respectively.
Passport rankings point towards the strength of diplomatic relations between countries.

What assumptions does the index make?

The index assumes that the passport is valid, belongs to an adult who is a citizen of the issuing country and that it is not diplomatic, emergency or temporary in nature.
It also assumes that the person travelling is doing so alone, rather than in tourist groups and meets all the basic requirements for entry such as hotel reservations.

Source: Indian Express

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