ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s passport ranking has improved on the Henley Index, rising from 103 in 2025 to 98 this year, according to figures released on Thursday.

According to the latest rankings, Pakistan’s travel document was placed 98th on the list, improving by five places and tying with Yemen. The index ranked Pakistan above Iraq (99), Syria (100) and Afghanistan (101).

The ranking showed that the Pakistani passport allows visa-free access to 31 countries, including visa-on-arrival facilities.

Singapore topped the index with visa-free access to 192 countries, followed by Japan and South Korea with 188. Denmark, Luxembourg, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland jointly ranked third, with visa-free access to 186 countries.

Singapore tops list with access to 192 countries

According to the Henley Index, Pakistani passport holders have visa-free access to Barbados, Cook Islands, Dominica, Haiti, Micronesia, Montserrat, Rwanda, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Vanuatu.

Visa-on-arrival is available for Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Djibouti, Guinea-Bissau, Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Nepal, Niue, Palau Islands, Qatar, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Timor-Leste and Tuvalu.

Pakistani passport holders can also avail an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) for Kenya, Seychelles and Sri Lanka.

In a post on X, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi welcomed the development, terming it a “strong achievement” and vowing that the “momentum will continue”.

In October last year, the Pakistani passport ranked the fourth worst for the fifth consecutive year, with a ranking of 103.

Pakistan’s passport has been declared the world’s fourth worst since at least 2021 on the Henley Index, which calculates countries’ “visa-free score” — the number of destinations travellers can access without a prior visa or with a visa on arrival.

The travel document was ranked 100th in 2024 and 2023, 109th in 2022, when it allowed entry into 32 countries without a prior visa, and 107th in 2021 with the same visa-free score.

Published in Dawn, January 16th, 2026