Bangladeshi passport drops to 100th place in new rankings

The Bangladeshi passport has dropped a few places in the latest passport rankings recently announced.

The document is now placed 100^th, tied with North Korea, with visa-free access to 38 destinations. That’s a decline from the 94^th spot it held earlier this year.

However, it’s important to note that even though the passport has currently slipped in rankings, it has continued to steadily inch its way upwards from the 108^th spot it held in 2021 – it’s lowest ranking ever. In 2022, it ranked 103^rd, and 101^st in 2023.

According to the Henley Passport Index, the passport ranks above Nepal (101), Somalia (102), Pakistan (103), Yemen (103), Iraq (104), Syria (105) and Afghanistan (106).

Holders of the Bangladeshi passport can travel to the following destinations visa-free: Bahamas, Barbados, Bhutan, Bolivia, British Virgin Islands, Burundi, Cambodia, Cape Verde Islands, Comoro Islands, Cook Islands, Djibouti, Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Madagascar, Maldives, Micronesia, Montserrat, Mozambique, Nepal, Niue, Rwanda, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, The Gambia, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Tuvalu, and Vanuatu.

Three Asian countries -- Singapore, South Korea, and Japan -- now dominate the rankings. Singapore leads with visa-free access to 193 destinations, followed closely by South Korea (190) and Japan (189). Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Switzerland rank fourth, with visa-free access to 188 destinations. Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Ireland and the Netherlands rank fifth with 187 destinations accessible visa-free.

For the first time since the Henley Passport Index was created 20 years ago, the US has fallen out of the world’s top 10 most powerful passports. Once unrivalled at No.1 in 2014, the American passport has plummeted to the 12th place, tied with Malaysia, with visa-free access to only 180 of 227 destinations worldwide. Similarly, the UK passport has slipped to its lowest-ever position on the index, dropping from 6th to 8th since July, despite also once holding the top spot in 2015.