The Reasons Behind the National Passport Is Falling in Global Ranking

In recent months, an online clip by an Indian travel influencer expressing frustration over India's weak passport gained massive traction across digital platforms.

He mentioned although nearby nations like Bhutan and Sri Lanka were more welcoming of Indian tourists, securing travel permits to travel to most Western and European countries continued to be difficult.

Such concerns with the limited global access of Indian passports was reflected in the latest global passport ranking, ranking the country in the 85th spot out of 199 countries, five spots lower than last year.

Officials in India have not issued a statement on the report so far.

Nations like Rwanda, Ghana and Azerbaijan despite smaller economic size than India – a nation that is the world's fifth biggest economy – hold better positions in the ranking at the 78th, 74th and 72nd spots, in that order.

Actually, the country's position in the past decade has remained around the eighties, even dipping to the 90th spot in 2021. These rankings appear poor when measured against other Asian countries like Singapore, Japan and South Korea, all maintaining leading ranks.

Global Passport Power Indicates

Passport strength indicates a nation's soft power and international standing. This leads to better mobility for passport holders, improving commercial and learning opportunities. A weak passport means additional documentation, higher visa costs, fewer travel privileges and extended processing periods for travel.

But despite the decline in the rank, the count of nations providing visa-free travel for Indian citizens has grown in the past decade or so.

For example, eight years ago – when the current administration's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) assumed office – fifty-two nations provided visa-free access to Indians with the passport at seventy-sixth position on the index.

A year later, it tumbled to the 85th position, then improved to eightieth in 2023 and 2024, declining once more to the 85th position this year. Meanwhile, visa-free destinations for Indians grew from 52 in 2015 to sixty last year and sixty-two this year.

The Competitive Global Mobility Landscape

The count of visa-free destinations in 2025 (fifty-seven) exceeds the number in 2015 (fifty-two), yet India's rank during both periods remains at eighty-fifth. What explains this situation?

Experts say that a primary factor is the increasingly competitive landscape in international travel – indicating that nations are entering into more travel partnerships for their populations' advantage and economic growth. According to a 2025 report, the worldwide mean number of destinations people can visit without visas has almost doubled from 58 in 2006 to one hundred nine currently.

As an illustration, The Chinese passport has increased the number of visa-free destinations its citizens can travel to from fifty to eighty-two over the last ten years. Consequently, its rank on the index has improved from ninety-fourth to sixtieth in that same duration.

Meanwhile, India – which was ranked at seventy-seventh place in July – fell to the 85th position in October after losing access to two countries.

Additional Factors Affecting Passport Strength

A former Indian ambassador says multiple elements that affect a nation's passport power, including its economic and political stability plus its openness to accepting travelers from other countries.

For instance, the US passport has fallen of the top 10 and now occupies twelfth place – a historic low – because of its increasingly insular stance in global affairs.

The former ambassador mentioned how in the 1970s, Indian citizens had visa-free access to many Western and European countries, but that changed after the Sikh separatist movement in the 1980s. Later political disturbances have further chipped away at India's image as a stable, democratic country.

"Many countries are growing more cautious regarding migrants," he stated. "The country possesses a high number of people migrating to other countries or overstaying their visas affecting the country's reputation."

Factors such as how secure a country's passport is and its immigration procedures also play a role to obtaining visa-free entry to foreign nations.

Security and Technological Improvements

India's passport remains vulnerable to security threats. In 2024, authorities arrested over two hundred individuals for suspected passport and visa irregularities. The country also has cumbersome immigration procedures with lengthy timelines of visa processing.

The former ambassador says that technological advances, like India's recently-launched digital passport or e-passport, may enhance safety and ease the immigration process. This electronic document contains a small chip that stores biometric information, increasing difficulty to forge or tamper with the passport.

But, increased diplomatic efforts and travel agreements remain key for enhancing the global mobility of Indians and, by extension, the Indian passport's global position.