Passports are often considered an indicator of a country’s prowess as it points to the amount of travel freedom that its citizens enjoy. According to a ranking system devised by Arton Capital, a financial advisory firm, US, along with UK, holds the world’s most powerful passport as its citizens can visit 147 countries without a visa/ getting visa on arrival.
The rankings are determined according to the number of countries a particular passport holder of a country can visit without a visa or by fetching a visa on arrival. The passports are thus sorted on the basis of a ‘Visa Free Score’ — essentially points that a passport accumulates based on the above criteria.
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France, Germany and South Korea are ranked number 2 according to the passport index.
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Sadly, India is ranked 59th as its passport holders can visit just 59 countries without a visa or by getting a visa on arrival. Even countries like Sierra Leone, Namibia and Nicaragua are ranked above India.
While China is ranked 45th, Pakistan is ranked 71st and Bangladesh 67th.
Myanmar, the Palestinian territories and South Sudan languish at the bottom of the ranking system.
It is also interesting to note that a majority of the top-10 ranked countries are in Europe.
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