Passport Ranking 2022 | Henley Passport Index 2022

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Henley Passport Index 2022- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Government policies and interventions for development in various sectors and issues arising out of their design and implementation.

Recently, the Henley Passport Index revealed the world’s most travel-friendly passports for 2022.
Japan and Singapore have again topped the list in the annual Henley Passport Index of 199 countries.

Background: Christian H. Kaelin (chairman of Henley & Partners) is originally credited with creating the Henley Passport Index (HPI) ranking.
About: Henley Passport Index (HPI) is a global ranking of the countries around the world according to the travel freedom enjoyed by their ordinary passport holders.
- Henley Passport Index ranks passports of countries according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa.
- Henley Passport Index was launched in 2006. Henley Passport Index also includes 199 different passports.
Database used: Henley Passport Index is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
- IATA is entrusted with maintaining the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information.
Preparation and Update: Henley Passport Index includes 199 different passports for ranking and is updated in real-time throughout the year as and when visa policy changes come into effect.

Top Ranking: Japan and Singapore have topped the list in the annual Henley & Partners’ Henley Passport Index.
- The passport holders of Japan and Singapore are able to travel visa-free to 192 destinations.
Other Top Performers: South Korea is tied with Germany in second place (with a score of 190) and Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, and Spain are in the third spot (with a score of 189).
- Ireland and Portugal are in fifth place (with a score of 187).
Worst Performers: Afghanistan (with a score of 26), Iraq (with a score of 28), and Syria (with a score of 29) were the top three worst performers in the Henley Passport Index 2022.

Improvement in Performance: India now ranks at 83rd position in the Henley Passport Index 2022, climbing seven places from 90th rank last year.
- In the Henley Passport Index 2022, India shares its position with Sao Tome and Principe in Central Africa, behind Rwanda and Uganda.
Significance: 83rd position in the Henley Passport Index 2022 allows Indian Passport holders to access 60 countries without a prior visa.
- India has added 35 more destinations since 2006.
Prior Performance: In 2020, India was ranked 84 in the Henley Passport Index while in 2016, India was ranked 85th along with Mali and Uzbekistan.