Passport power: Bangladesh moves up one notch

The power of Bangladeshi passport has improved by one notch to the 98th place in 2020 from 99th in 2019, in the Henley Passport Index.

According to the latest ranking published on Tuesday, holders of Bangladeshi passport can travel to 41 countries, without needing prior visa.

However, the passport power has not improved much overtime. Since a decade ago, holders of the country's passport could travel to 39 destinations out of possible 227 countries, without needing to seek prior visas.

The Henley Passport Index has released its first report of the new decade. Released quarterly, it ranks the passport power of a country based on the number of countries, a country's passport holder can travel without needing prior visa.

Among the others in the top ten, Japan has secured the top spot, for the third consecutive year. The country's passport holders can visit 191 countries without visa.

The third-largest economy of the world is followed by Singapore in the second place with a score of 190, which stands for 190 visa-free destinations.

Germany and South Korea have dropped to the third spot from the second in the previous year, as passports of both the countries allow visa-free access to 189 countries.

European countries occupy the majority of the rest of the top ten, with Finland and Italy both taking the fourth place, Spain, Luxembourg and Denmark grabbing the fifth place, while France and Sweden are at number six.

The United States has been ranked eighth alongside Belgium, Greece, Norway and United Kingdom for enjoying visa-free access to 184 countries, while Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, Malta and New Zealand together are ranked ninth.

In the South Asian region, Maldivian passport is the most powerful, as it is ranked 61st and allows its holders to visit 85 countries without visa or with visa-on-arrival opportunities.

The Indian passport is ranked 84th with provision for visa-free access to 58 sovereign nations. Bhutan's passport is at the 89th position with a score of 53. The Sri Lankan passport ranked 97th gives people visa-free access to 42 countries.

Afghanistan's passport, like in 2019, has once again been labeled as the least powerful in the world for allowing access to 26 countries.

The ranking is based on data from the International Air Transport Association, which maintains the world's largest and most accurate database on global travel.

The findings are periodically updated and enhanced by the research team of the Henley & Partners, a residence advisory firm based in London.