Originally Posted by
RichieMc
Pew says 56% of US adults have passports. And 27% of people have never left the country. Neither of these seems particularly shocking. Plenty of Brits travelling consists of drinking holidays to Shagaluf. The US is big and Americans could do the equivalent in Daytona Beach or South Padre without need for passport. And I imagine there are loads of people in say Puglia who have never left southern Italy.
Pews numbers seem off. If you look at statistics over time (State Department reporting), the number was in a relatively steepish climb for a while.In 1989, only about 4% of Americans had passports, and it had climbed pretty steadily to 17% by 1999, where it leveled for nearly two years. The climb then resumed, and jumped in 2007-2009 and again in 2016-2017. By 2017 the numbers were up to 42%, while it’s seems to be 48% now (as the State Department itself says 48% in a December 18, 2023 news release reporting reduced processing times).
Perhaps Pew is adding Passport Card holders to the mix, a National ID Card that allows travel to Mexico, Canada, Bermuda and some Caribbean nations by land or sea, not air. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative was what drove the 2007 spike, as a Passport, Passport Card or certain other ID was then officially a requirement for Mexico, Canada and a number of cruises. Basically, until 2001+, most Americans could travel the entire North American continent without a passport, needing just a photo ID like a simple drivers license. The second spike is likely related to the initial REAL ID requirement rollout, a requirement for air travel that has been delayed quite a bit.