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March 26, 2007
One Out of Every Four Americans Has a Passport, And That's a Shame
One of the most difficult statistics to pin down is this: How many Americans have passports? The State Department is never sure--I know because I've spent hours trying to get that number out of the passport office. It's difficult to measure, since passports expire, people expire, and the population is always changing.
But the best estimate is that about a quarter of all Americans at any given time have a valid passport. That number may be going up even as I write, since new rules now require all US citizens wishing to fly between the US and Canada, Mexico and the Caribean have a valid passport in order to return to the country.
In a recent article in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, staff writer Jon Tevlin laments this small percentage of passport holders and compares our numbers to other countries. In Germany, 90 per cent of citizens have passports. In Canada, it's 40 per cent. In Great Britian, 64 per cent.
I could fill this blog with the excuses I've heard from Americans who tell me why they see no reason to ever leave these 50 states. In my opinion, they're mostly bogus reasons that reveal a basic insecurity--too many Americans are afraid to go to a country where a different language is spoken, there are different customs, the food is different, and maybe the entire country drives on the wrong side of the road.
In his article, Jon touches on some of those points and offers his own story of how his life changed as a result of his first trip abroad. It's short, it's amusing, and it's right on. Check it out.
Posted by Rudy Maxa in Late-Breaking News | Permalink
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Comments
Hi Rudy,
As someone who has been travelling all over the world since the day I was born, I find it amazing that so many people don't have the urge to get up and go. Funny thing, though, once they do get up and go, there's often no stopping them.
By the way, have just post 'Interview with a Travel Writer: Rudy Maxa' on my blog (http://writetotravel.blogspot.com/2007/03/interview-with-travel-writer-rudy-maxa.html).
Thanks Liz
Posted by: Liz Lewis | Mar 27, 2007 3:48:00 PM
I wonder if the low number also has something to do with the fact that many Americans cannot afford to travel overseas and also don't get nearly as much vacation time from work as Europeans. I think that those things are a shame.
Posted by: Jess | Mar 28, 2007 4:03:31 PM
An apples-to-apples comparison would be to see how many EU citizens travel outside their continent or to non EU countries. Geography, boundaries and transoceanic flight prices make a difference.
-Andy (who flies at least once year to Southeastern Europe to see extended family)
Posted by: Andy | Mar 29, 2007 12:47:52 PM
As for travelling outside of the country I think it should also be remembered that your average American has to pay a great deal of money for a Transatlantic flight in order to go on vacation, whereas in Europe tickets are incredibly cheap to fly from country to country, and flight isn't always necessary, with the Channel Tunnel and the Eurostar etc.
The U.S.A. also has a greater variety within the country than many european countries. You can get snow and heat all at once in two different parts of California, but you have to go to two different european countries to get that experience at the same time of year.
I do think Americans should travel more rather than existing in this state of global isolationism, however the excuses aren't all baseless.
Posted by: Alex | Jun 19, 2007 7:52:08 AM
I have no idea where this statistic comes from. I wrote about this in my blog and given the current data provided by the US State Department website, and the approximate number of US citizens over the age of 18 who can travel on their own, the percentage of Americans that possess a passport is more like 44.7%. People outside of the US like to think of Americans as closed-minded fat oafs that can barely name a country other than their own. Where or why this myth is perpetuated is fodder for another discussion.
The fact is nearly 98 million of us leave America for foreign lands. The other 55.3% probably spend their lives exploring their own country which is just a tad smaller than all of Europe. If you include all of North America and Mexico, that's a huge area to explore.
Trust me, if there was a cheap way to get to the rest of the world from the US, you'd see a lot more Americans over there.
http://feljcruz.blogspot.com/2008/10/only-10-of-americans-have-passports-and.html
Posted by: Fel J. Cruz | Oct 26, 2008 5:49:19 PM
As an American who has travelled more than most people I know, this conversation gets very old and very boring. I grew up in the US and spent 30+ years there and still haven't seen everything and the diversity of what there is to see is amazing! The differences between the size and culture of states and cities are as diverse as the differences in countries within Europe. I now live in Australia and have been here for nearly 10 years and hear all the time how Americans don't travel, yet I meet Australians every day who have not only NOT left the country but haven't even been to each of the 7 or so states and territories. 80% of this country is uninhabitable so it's easy to see why at a young age, people are likely to leave the country, they've seen everything already. In the populated areas, most are seaside villages, capital cities or country towns, not huge differences. Don't get me wrong, I have lived in the UK as well and both the UK and Australia are lovely, lovely places but comparing needs and desires to travel outside of such different countries is ridiculous.
Posted by: Jlm | Aug 16, 2009 5:03:34 AM
