Pakistan passport drops to 101st in Henley Index

Pakistan’s passport has slipped to 101st place on the latest Henley Passport Index, leaving it as the world’s fourth weakest travel document after Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

The index, which compares 199 passports across 227 destinations, measures how many places holders can enter without securing a visa in advance, including visa-free and visa-on-arrival access. Pakistan’s score fell from 30 destinations in May to 29 in July, pushing it down by one place.

Pakistani citizens currently have visa-free access to Barbados, Cook Islands, Dominica, Haiti, Micronesia, Montserrat, Rwanda, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Gambia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vanuatu. Visa-on-arrival access is available in Burundi, Cambodia, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Nepal, Niue, Palau Islands, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste, and Tuvalu.

Electronic travel authorisations are also available for Kenya, Seychelles and Sri Lanka.

The latest ranking continues a downward movement seen this year. Pakistan stood 100th in May, after ranking 98th in March with access to 31 destinations. In February, it was placed 97th, when Pakistani passport holders could access 32 destinations, up from 31 in January after The Gambia reinstated access.

Cape Verde Islands, Mozambique and Qatar have stopped offering visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to Pakistanis this year, although those options were available in January.

Long-term position near bottom

Despite the latest decline, Pakistan’s position is still better than its standing in 2021, when it was ranked 113th. The passport was placed 107th in 2021, 109th in 2022, and 100th in both 2023 and 2024.

Henley’s historical comparison shows Pakistan has remained near the bottom of the rankings for more than a decade and has been listed as the fourth worst passport in the world since at least 2021. Yemen now stands one spot above Pakistan, with visa-free access to 30 countries.

At the top of the latest index, Singapore retained first place with access to 192 destinations. Japan, South Korea and the United Arab Emirates shared second place at 188, while Sweden ranked third with 187.