Henley Passport Index 2026 - India Rises to 75th

1 February 2026National

India's passport ranking improved to 75th (up 10 places from 85th), reflecting expanded visa-free and visa-on-arrival access for Indian passport holders.

More Economy Current Affairs

UNESCO's 2026 GEM Gender Report Says Global Gender Parity in School Enrolment Was Achieved in 2024

UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report team released its 2026 Gender Report, titled 'Gender equity in access to education', around the International Day of the Girl Child on 11 October. It finds that global gender parity in pre-primary, primary and secondary enrolment was achieved in 2024, a landmark, but that disparities persist in tertiary education and among disadvantaged groups. Between 2000 and 2024, the share of countries with fewer than nine girls enrolled per ten boys fell from 15% to 2% in primary education and from 18% to 5% in upper-secondary. The report urges targeted action for out-of-school girls in conflict-affected and poorer regions.

GK ByteUNESCO was founded in 1945, is headquartered in Paris and publishes the Global Education Monitoring Report, mandated by the Education 2030 Incheon Declaration | SDG 4 covers inclusive and equitable quality education while SDG 5 covers gender equality | The International Day of the Girl Child is observed on 11 October and was first marked in 2012
πŸ“… 22 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete β†’

WHO Releases 'State of Inequality' Report on Noncommunicable Diseases and Their Risk Factors

The World Health Organization released 'State of inequality: noncommunicable diseases and their risk factors' on 20 October 2026. Drawing on national data collected over the past decade, it examines four NCDs - cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes - alongside risk factors including tobacco and alcohol use, obesity, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity and air pollution. The report finds hypertension and diabetes more common among less-educated groups in low- and middle-income countries, rural populations less likely to be diagnosed and treated than urban ones, and poorer, less-educated women least likely to receive cervical cancer screening.

GK ByteThe WHO was established on 7 April 1948 and is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland; its Director-General is Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus | NCDs kill about 43 million people a year, roughly three-quarters of all non-pandemic deaths worldwide | SDG target 3.4 aims to cut premature NCD mortality by one-third by 2030
πŸ“… 20 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete β†’

Henley Passport Index 2026: Singapore Retains Top Spot; India Climbs to 84th with 55 Visa-Free Destinations

The Henley Passport Index 2026, released on 17 October 2026 and built on exclusive IATA travel data, kept Singapore at number one with visa-free access to 193 of 227 destinations. Japan, South Korea and the UAE shared second place with 188, and Sweden was third with 187. India rose one place to 84th, tied with Algeria and Mauritania, even though its visa-free count slipped from 57 to 55 destinations, so the rank improved while actual access narrowed. Afghanistan remained last at 106th with 22 destinations, below Syria, Iraq and Pakistan. The index ranks 199 passports.

GK ByteThe Henley Passport Index is published by London-based Henley & Partners using exclusive International Air Transport Association (IATA) data; IATA was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Montreal, Canada | Indian passports are issued under the Passports Act, 1967, administered by the Ministry of External Affairs | A rival ranking, the Global Passport Index, is published by Global Citizen Solutions
πŸ“… 17 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete β†’

India's Unemployment Rate Holds at 5.0% in September 2026, PLFS Bulletin Shows

India's unemployment rate for persons aged 15 and above stayed at 5.0% in September 2026, unchanged from August and down from 5.2% a year earlier, according to the National Statistics Office's monthly Periodic Labour Force Survey bulletin. Rural unemployment edged up to 4.2% and urban to 6.9%. The male rate held at 4.9% while the female rate rose to 5.2%; rural female unemployment fell to 3.9%, its lowest in 2026, even as urban female unemployment climbed to 9.2%. The labour force participation rate was 55.5% and the worker population ratio 52.7%, both up year-on-year. 3,70,513 persons were surveyed.

GK ByteThe Periodic Labour Force Survey was launched in April 2017 by the NSSO, replacing the quinquennial Employment-Unemployment Surveys | Unemployment rate is the unemployed share of the labour force; LFPR the share working or seeking work; WPR the employed share of population | MoSPI uses two approaches - Usual Status over 365 days and Current Weekly Status over seven days
πŸ“… 15 Oct 2026EconomyRead complete β†’