#Pakistan becomes third worst country for international travel

We all know travelling on a Pakistani passport is never easy. But things are worse than we’d like to admit.

The country has become the third worst country for international travel. The Pakistani passport ranked 102 out of 104 countries in the 2019 Henley Passport Index. Falling in the list of bottom five countries to visit globally, a Pakistani passport can get you visa-free access to only 33 countries.

Ironically, Pakistan was included in Forbes’s recently-released list of ’10 coolest places to go to in 2019.’

On the contrary, the country’s neighbour, India ranked 79 with access to 28 more countries than Pakistan.

The Henley index is the original ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa. The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world’s largest database of travel information.

Meanwhile, Japan has entered the New Year holding first place on the index with citizens enjoying visa-free/visa-on-arrival access to 190 countries.

Germany and France remain in third place with a visa-free score of 188.

The Pakistani passport has been sliding down consistently since 2006 when it ranked at 79. In the last quarter, it stood at 102. Notably, the green passport’s rankings had seen a rise in 2013, having jumped up from 100th place in 2012 to 91st in 2013. However, it continued to plunge since then.

Joining Pakistan at the bottom of the 2019 ranking are Iraq and Afghanistan with access to just 30 visa-free destinations each. China and the UAE have, meanwhile, have risen steadily over the past few years.