Iranian passport falls to bottom of world passport rankings
Based on the world's passport validity table for 2020, the passport of the Islamic Republic of Iran has fallen to the sixth least valid passport in the world.
According to the Passport Index website, the Iranian passport ranks 194th out of 199 countries in the world. After the Iranian passport, the passports of Yemen, Somalia, Syria, and Afghanistan are ranked. The Iraqi passport is also at the bottom of the list.
The main criterion for compiling this list is the number of countries that the holder of each passport can travel to without a visa.
According to new information from the Passport Index website, Iranian passport holders can now only travel to five countries without a visa: Turkey, Micronesia, and Haiti. The names of the other two countries have not been announced.
Also, with an Iranian passport, you can get a visa on arrival to 28 countries, but Iranians still need a visa to travel to 165 countries around the world.
According to this table, passports from countries such as Pakistan, Eritrea, Bangladesh, North Korea, Libya, and the Palestinian territories are in a better credit situation than the Iranian passport.
The Iranian passport's ranking in 194th place is down from 101st place in 2019.
Two years ago, the Iranian passport ranked 92nd among 199 countries, and Iranians could travel to 40 countries without a visa.
This sharply declining trend in the validity of Iranian passports is occurring at a time when one of the slogans of Hassan Rouhani's government was to increase the validity of Iranian passports.
Previously, Alireza Ebrahimi, a member of the board of directors of the Parliament's Cultural Commission, had said that the validity of the Iranian passport has decreased in recent years, saying: "Currently, maintaining the dignity and honor of the Iranian passport is facing challenges, and other countries are very strict about the entry of Iranians into their countries."
Until 2018, Iranians could travel to most European countries without a visa, except for a few Eastern European countries.
According to the latest Passport Index data for 2020, the passports of Japan and New Zealand are tied for first place. Japanese citizens can travel to 82 countries without a visa and can obtain a visa on arrival to 36 more countries.
Finland, Austria, Luxembourg, Ireland, South Korea, Switzerland and Australia are jointly ranked second for the most powerful passports in the world.
Source: Radio Farda
