Zimbabwe News Update
bbc
4 min read
Earlier this year, a video by an Indian travel influencer complaining about India’s weak passport went viral on social media.Hesaidthat while neighbouring countries like Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming of Indian tourists, getting visas to travel to most Western and European countries remained a challenge.His dissatisfaction with India’s poor passport strength was reflectedin the latest Henley Passport Index- a ranking system of the world’s passports based on visa-free travel – which placed India in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, five spots lower than last year.The Indian government has not commented on the report yet.
The BBC has reached out to the ministry of external affairs.Countries like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan with much smaller economies than India – which is the fifth-largest economy globally – are ranked higher on the index at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, respectively.In fact, India’s rank in the past decade has hovered in the 80s, even dipping to the 90th spot in 2021. These rankings are dismal compared to Asian nations like Japan, South Korea and Singapore, which have consistently held top positions.This year, like the last, Singapore topped the index with visa-free travel to 193 countries.
South Korea came in second with 190 visa-free destinations and Japan ranked third with 189 countries.Meanwhile, Indian passport holders have visa-free entry to 57 countries, just like the citizens of the African country Mauritania, which shares the 85th rank with India.
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