India falls in the world’s most powerful passports ranking

India is now ranked one spot lower than it was in the previous year’s Henley Passport Index for 2024.

According to sources, the French passport is at the top of the list, with the Indian passport coming in at number 85. The strength of a country’s passport determines its ranking in the Henley Passport Index.

According to data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), holders of the most powerful passports in the world today enable people of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, and Singapore to travel to 194 out of 227 places globally without a visa. They are now joined at the top by Germany, Italy, Spain, and France, the other four EU countries.

India, with visa-free travel to 62 countries, fell five spots from its January rating of 85th to 85th in February. India was added to the lists of nations that do not require a visa last year by Kenya, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.

For nationals of sovereign nations, the index is a global benchmark, updated on a monthly basis.

Over the past 20 years, there have been notable shifts in global mobility, according to data from the Henley Passport Index. Visa-free travel to an average of 58 countries was available in 2006; this year, that number has almost doubled to 111 nations.