It’s long been a travel-talk cliche how few Americans have passports, while the rest of the world travels more widely—but to the extent it was ever true, the shoe’s now on the other foot.
U.S. State Department figures show 24.5 million passports issued last year, the third record-breaking year in a row, with over 51% of Americans now holding passports, up from an estimated 30% in 2008.
And the process has gotten easier, with the recent introduction of online renewals and a post-Covid drop in the waiting time for passports to be processed, now down to generally six weeks or less.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic, about 40% of Europeans carry passports, with some countries higher than others. In the UK, the number is now about 86%, in part a result of Brexit meaning Brits now need one to travel to European destinations. Free travel throughout the EU and Schengen zone is behind the low figures for other Europeans.
Meanwhile, for Americans, the increasing popularity of cruises to the Caribbean and other passport-required destinations and growing trans-ocean travel have nudged the numbers ever higher, though not as high as Canada’s 70%.
