Passport Index 2024: Bangladesh in bottom 10, shares 97th spot with North Korea

The 2024 edition of Henley Passport Index – the most widely-accepted rating of global travel documents – places the Bangladeshi passport at 97th position, down one place from the last quarter of 2023, reports UNB.

The latest edition of the Passport Index — published on Tuesday — features a total of 104 spots with some countries’ passports sharing the same ranking. 

Bangladesh ranked 97th on the index, sharing the spot with North Korea — a country virtually isolated from the rest of the world.

The ranking is based on the number of destinations passport holders can access without a prior visa.

According to the 2024 Henley Passport Index, a Bangladeshi passport entitles visa-free travel to 42 destinations.

In South Asia, the Bangladeshi passport fared better compared to that of Nepal (98), Pakistan (101) and Afghanistan (104). 

Maldives’ passport ranked at 58, becoming the strongest in South Asia with visa-free access to 94 countries. India, Bhutan and Sri Lanka’s passports ranked at 80th, 87th and 96th respectively.

An unprecedented six countries share the top spot for the most desirable travel documents in 2024.

Citizens of France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Singapore, and Spain now have access to visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to a remarkable 194 destinations worldwide. 

This figure marks the highest count recorded since the Henley Passport Index began monitoring global travel freedoms 19 years ago, according to CNN.

Apart from those 6 countries who share the top spot, other countries sharing the top 5 rankings in the Henley Passport Index are: Finland, South Korea, Sweden in the second spot with visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to 193 countries; Austria, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands sharing the third spot with visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to 192 countries; Belgium, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal United Kingdom in fourth spot with visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to 191 countries; Greece, Malta, and Switzerland in the fifth spot with visa-free or visa-on-arrival entry to 190 destinations. 

Countries sharing the bottom 5 rankings as per the passport index are: Yemen, Pakistan, Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. 

The Henley Passport Index, the only one of its kind based on unique data from the International Air Transport Authority (IATA), has historical data going back 19 years. The database lists 227 travel destinations and 199 passports.

The Henley Passport Index is updated every quarter, and is regarded as the go-to resource for global citizens and sovereign states for determining where a passport ranks on the scale of global mobility.