Pak passport fourth-worst in global ranking

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistani passport has been ranked as the fourth worst passport for international travel for the third consecutive year, with visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 31 destinations around the world, according to the Henley Passport Index 2022.

The Henley Passport Index, which is a ranking of all the world’s passports according to the number of destinations their holders can access without a prior visa, placed Pakistan on the 108th position. Henley & Partners firm’s “Henley Passport Index” has been regularly monitoring the world's most travel-friendly passports since 2006.

Read more: These are the world's most powerful and worst passports for 2022

The increasing travel barriers that have been introduced over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic have resulted in the widest global mobility gap in the index's 16-year history, said the report.

The index doesn't take temporary restrictions into account, so leaving actual current travel access aside, holders of the passports at the top of its ranking -- Japan and Singapore -- are able, in theory, to travel visa-free to 192 destinations.

That's 166 more destinations than Afghan nationals, who sit at the bottom of the index of 199 passports, and can access just 26 countries without requiring a visa in advance.

Further down the top 10, the rankings remain virtually unchanged as we enter the first quarter of 2022. South Korea is tied with Germanyin second place (with a score of 190) and Finland, Italy, Luxembourg and Spain are all together in third place (with a score of 189).

EU countries dominate the top of the list as usual, with France, Netherlands and Sweden climbing one spot to join Austria and Denmark in fourth place (with a score of 188). Ireland and Portugal are in fifth place (with a score of 187). The United States and the United Kingdom, which held the top spot together back in 2014, have regained a little ground.