Bahrain listed 4th in passport rankings in GCC

Manama : Bahrain has been ranked fourth among GCC nations in the Henley Global Passport Index published yesterday. 

The index, which ranked nations according to the number of countries its citizens are able to travel visa-free. 

In the global rankings, Bahrain was listed at 63rd. The Kingdom was tied with Namibia and Suriname in the rankings. UAE, which offers visa-free travel to 133 countries, topped the GCC list ranking at 33rd spot tied with Trinidad and Tobago. UAE’s climb of 33 spots in this year’s index year from last year, achieves a high lead regionally as the next GCC country in the list is Kuwait at 58th position. Kuwaiti citizens are able to travel to 83 countries visa-free. Qatar was ranked at 62nd, Oman at 65th and Saudi Arabia 67th. 

Bahraini citizens are able to travel to 75 countries visa-free, the report noted. Other countries in the Middle East did not do so well, Iraq has lost 15 places on the index over the past 10 years, Yemen 17 places, and Syria 20 places. Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan were at the bottom of the list, with its citizens only able to access less than 30 countries with its passport. 

Germany was ranked first in the report as its passport provides access to 177 countries visa-free. Singapore came second and Denmark, Finland, France, Italy Japan, Norway, Sweden and United Kingdom were tied at third.