The world’s strongest passport is that of Singapore, whereas India’s falls considerably decrease at eightieth place, which it additionally shares with Algeria, Equatorial Guinea, and Tajikistan, in response to the 2025 Henley Passport Index.
India has ranked #80 on the 2025 passport checklist
The index is by Henley & Companions, a world authorities advisory agency, which ranks all of the world’s 199 passports in response to the variety of locations they’ll entry. Henley says that is primarily based on information from the Worldwide Air Transport Affiliation (IATA).
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The Singaporean passport with entry to 193 nations out of the overall 227, is adopted by the passports of Japan and South Korea in second place with entry to 190 nations, and people of seven nations within the third place, which incorporates Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Eire, Italy, and Spain with entry to 189 nations.
Afghanistan stood on the backside of the checklist on the 99th place with entry to solely 25 nations. In the meantime, Syria with entry to 27 nations got here 98th place, and Iraq with entry to 30 nations got here 97th place.
Singapore and Japan broke away from a gaggle of six nations that shared the highest spot final 12 months to safe gold and silver, respectively, in response to Henley.
Although Japan is within the runner-up spot, it’s nonetheless forward of the remainder after it regained visa-free entry to neighboring China for the primary time for the reason that Covid lockdowns.
Finland and South Korea every misplaced a spot over the previous 12 months. They’ve entry to 192 locations with no prior visa required.
Afghanistan, having misplaced visa-free entry to 2 extra locations over the past 12 months, ended up creating the most important mobility hole within the index’s 19-year historical past.
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The UAE, one of many largest climbers on the index for the reason that final decade, was the primary and solely Arab state to ever make it into the higher echelons of the rankings. It secured entry to a further 72 locations since 2015, climbing 32 locations to tenth spot with visa-free entry to 185 locations worldwide.
In the meantime, the largest faller on the index was Venezuela, adopted surprisingly by the US. That is between 2015 and 2025.
“Even earlier than the arrival of a second Trump presidency, American political traits had turn into notably inward-looking and isolationist,” said Annie Pforzheimer, Senior Associate at Washington thinktank the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Even though US economic health relies heavily on immigration, tourism, and trade, voters during the 2024 presidential campaign were fed a narrative that America can (and should) stand alone.”
“Ultimately, if tariffs and deportations are the Trump administration’s default policy tools, not only will the US continue to decline on the mobility index on a comparative basis, but it will probably do so in absolute terms as well,” she added.
US nationals also constitute the single largest group who look for alternative residence and citizenship.
Meanwhile, China trails the UAE as one of the biggest climbers over the past decade, ascending from 94th place in 2015 to 60th in 2025. It also granted visa-free access to 29 more countries over the past year alone, and now sits in 80th position, granting visa-free entry to a total of 58 nations.
The research also shows that among the top 10 countries facing the highest Schengen visa rejection rates, six are in Africa. This includes Comoros with the worst 61.3% rejection rate, followed by Guinea-Bissau at 51%, and Ghana at 47.5%.
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“The very notion of citizenship and its birthright lottery needs a fundamental rethink as temperatures rise, natural disasters become more frequent and severe, displacing communities and rendering their environments uninhabitable,” mentioned Dr. Christian H. Kaelin, Chairman of Henley & Companions and the inventor of the passport index.
“Concurrently, political instability and armed conflicts in varied areas power numerous individuals to flee their properties looking for security and refuge,” he added.