Global Passport Index 2026: Indian passport got a shock, ranking fell to 125th place, know top-10 countries

New Delhi: There is a disappointing news for the Indian passport in terms of global travel and mobility. In the latest report of ‘Global Passport Index 2026’, a decline in India’s ranking has been recorded. India has now slipped to 125th position in this index and despite showing some improvement last year, the country’s passport has remained out of the top 100 list this time too.

Talking about this ups and downs in ranking, between the year 2021 and 2023, India was at 127th position. After this, it improved in the year 2025 and India reached 124th position, but once again its ranking has fallen down. According to this index, currently Indian passport holders get the facility to visit only 26 places (countries) in the world without visa.

India lagged behind many developing countries
Indian passport strength ranks below Namibia in the Global Passport Index 2026 list. Apart from this, India is also lagging behind countries like Philippines, Morocco and Uzbekistan in the ranking. However, the situation of Indian passport remains somewhat better than countries like Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan.

Visa-free and visa-on-arrival entry is available in these countries:
Indian passport holders can easily travel to beautiful places like Bhutan, Nepal, Jamaica, Macau, Palestine, Tunisia, Angola and Barbados without any prior visa or with the facility of ‘Visa on Arrival’.

Europe continues to dominate, Sweden becomes the world’s most powerful passport
The top-10 list of the Global Passport Index 2026 is completely dominated by European countries. In this index, Sweden occupies the first place as the most powerful passport in the world.

What is the condition of neighboring countries?
If we talk about India’s neighbours, China is in a much better position than India with 104th position. However, India stands in a much stronger position than its other South Asian neighbors like Bangladesh (166th rank), Nepal (164th rank) and Pakistan (188th rank). Pakistan is near the lowest positions in this index.