4/10 Americans now own a valid passport, up from 1/33 in 1989

[Tender Branson]

Just found this chart on the State Dept. page:



Thoughts ?

Weird that only 3% of Americans had a passport 25 years ago.

[dead0man]

America is big.  There is no need for most regular folk to own a passport.  Most of us can't afford vacations to Europe or Asia.

[Mr. Morden]

America is big.  There is no need for most regular folk to own a passport.  Most of us can't afford vacations to Europe or Asia.

But then why is it now up to 40%?  That's an enormous growth rate.

[Mordecai]

America is big.  There is no need for most regular folk to own a passport.  Most of us can't afford vacations to Europe or Asia.

But then why is it now up to 40%?  That's an enormous growth rate.

Globalisation and the end of the Cold War?

[dead0man]

You need one to go to Canada/Mexico now, you didn't 25 years ago.  Nearly everybody in the military has one, that wasn't true 25 years ago.

[Person Man]

You need one to go to Canada/Mexico now, you didn't 25 years ago.  Nearly everybody in the military has one, that wasn't true 25 years ago.

This. Though half of the rise happened before 9/11.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Travelling abroad? This is not what America is all about!

When did you lose your way?

[memphis]

Before WW1, nobody had one.

[Clarko95 📚💰📈]

A passport has been a requirement for crossing the US-Canada border since the beginning of 2007.

Really? I didn't know this. Interesting. So what was the procedure to cross? Just show your driver's license and you're good?

[AggregateDemand]

Who is John Galt?

[Kushahontas]

A passport has been a requirement for crossing the US-Canada border since the beginning of 2007.

Really? I didn't know this. Interesting. So what was the procedure to cross? Just show your driver's license and you're good?

I know that the way it worked before the new rules were implemented is that the border agent at the US/Mex border would just ask if you were an American citizen and wave you on through. It was that simple.

[angus]

Thoughts ?

Weird that only 3% of Americans had a passport 25 years ago.

Borders are much tighter now than they were 25 years ago.  The first few times I went to Canada and Mexico as a child no passport was required.  Daddy and Mama would show their driver's licenses.  The children just sat in the back seat and smiled.  Sometimes, grownups didn't even need a license.  I remember when Mama forgot hers one time and it was okay.  Also, people could go to Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas--come on pretty Mama--without a passport.  Nowadays you need a passport to visit those places.  

Also, we're a more mobile people now than when I was a child.  I got my first passport when I was 7 years old, in 1974.  I needed that one to travel to Germany because my father was going to be working there for a year.  My son got his first passport when he was 4 years old.  He needed it to travel to China.  I wouldn't be surprised if it is not at all uncommon for someone of my son's generation to get a passport three years younger than someone of my generation.  Of course for places like China and Germany, a passport was always necessary, but this also suggests something about how our economic dependencies have shifted since I was a child.  My son is now 9 and has flown across the Pacific ocean several times, but has never flown across the Atlantic.  By the time I was nine years old we had flown across the Atlantic multiple times but not across the Pacific.  

[Mr. Morden]

You need one to go to Canada/Mexico now, you didn't 25 years ago.  Nearly everybody in the military has one, that wasn't true 25 years ago.

You didn't need one for Canada until 2007 (which is presumably the reason for the jump in that year).  Most of the growth happened before that.

[Mr. Morden]

A passport has been a requirement for crossing the US-Canada border since the beginning of 2007.

Really? I didn't know this. Interesting. So what was the procedure to cross? Just show your driver's license and you're good?

Show your driver's license, but they'd also ask you a few questions, like "Are you carrying any guns, drugs, goods worth more than $1000" or something like that.  Also ask how long you plan to stay in the other country and so forth.  Same sort of questions they still ask you today, except you now need a passport as well.

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

The passport gained a lot more importance as a universal ID document in the post-9/11 days. I don't have any immediate plans to travel internationally, but I do have a passport. It makes dealing with the DMV a lot easier.

[muon2]

Thoughts ?

Weird that only 3% of Americans had a passport 25 years ago.

Borders are much tighter now than they were 25 years ago.  The first few times I went to Canada and Mexico as a child no passport was required.  Daddy and Mama would show their driver's licenses.  The children just sat in the back seat and smiled.  Sometimes, grownups didn't even need a license.  I remember when Mama forgot hers one time and it was okay.  Also, people could go to Jamaica, Bermuda, Bahamas--come on pretty Mama--without a passport.  Nowadays you need a passport to visit those places.  

Also, we're a more mobile people now than when I was a child.  I got my first passport when I was 7 years old, in 1974.  I needed that one to travel to Germany because my father was going to be working there for a year.  My son got his first passport when he was 4 years old.  He needed it to travel to China.  I wouldn't be surprised if it is not at all uncommon for someone of my son's generation to get a passport three years younger than someone of my generation.  Of course for places like China and Germany, a passport was always necessary, but this also suggests something about how our economic dependencies have shifted since I was a child.  My son is now 9 and has flown across the Pacific ocean several times, but has never flown across the Atlantic.  By the time I was nine years old we had flown across the Atlantic multiple times but not across the Pacific.  

In 1979, I rode with a busload of other college students from MN to see a total eclipse in Winnipeg. At the border there was a short discussion between the driver and the border agent, and then the one Canadian had to come out to produce ID. No one else mattered.

In the early 80's I was in grad school in MA and occasionally caught a ride to the Midwest. The US had a national 55 mph speed limit, while Ontario highways permitted 100 km/h which is over 62 mph. So, when I shared a ride from Boston to Chicago, the fastest path was to cut across Ontario from Niagara Falls to Port Huron. There was no check of anything at the border, just a question asking if we were all Americans.

However, when I married in 1988 we had a European honeymoon. I can attest that my wife and I were among that 3% with passports in 1989. We used them frequently since we crossed borders between Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Yugoslavia. Hotels required us to show them when we checked in.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

When I was a kid and crossed the border, no one asked for ID. And then we criss crossed the border in canoes, and no one cared. Of course this was pre-9/11.

[angus]

We used them frequently since we crossed borders between Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, and Yugoslavia.

Yes, those borders have become looser since then, even as other borders have become tighter.  Back when we would drive to Mexico and back without any ID, the drive between Germany and its neighboring states required strict security.  I remember once when we lived in Germany and my parents wanted to do a Thanksgiving dinner.  My father worked for a company that hired mostly US, English, Australian, and Canadian people for the white collar positions, but hired lots of locals (Germans and some Danes and Turks) for the blue-collar positions.  My parents often had big soirees and hosted a number of guests at these, often a very international crowd.  They were looking forward to eating a huge American-style baked turkey.  Problem was, in November of 1974 turkeys were very hard to come by in German supermarkets.  Somehow, Daddy found out that he could get a big frozen turkey in Amsterdam, but how to get it across the border?  Finally, it was decided that the family would all jump in the mercedes and head to Amsterdam.  Myself, my mother, my sister, and my father piled in the car.  I had been to Amsterdam before and looked forward to the trip.  Of course we all took our US passports because back then it was need to cross the German-Netherlands border by land.  Upon procurement of the turkey, we got back into the car and headed east.  A few miles before the border, my parents got out and went to the trunk, where they had the turkey, along with a cardboard oval, sheets, and lots of duct tape.  They placed the cardboard on my mother's abdomen, then wrapped the frozen turkey in a sheet, then attached the turkey to my mother's abdomen using a generous amount of duct tape.  She was meant to pass through as a pregnant woman.  It worked, but by the time she got through it she was dreadfully uncomfortable.  My mother was always a bit thin and stayed cold even during the warmest months.  I imagine that she felt like death with that frozen turkey strapped to her abdomen.

In the end, a big American-style Thanksgiving feast was enjoyed by Canadians, Danes, Germans, English, Turks, Australians, and one New Zealander, and they all had a big laugh upon learning how the Thanksgiving turkey was smuggled into Germany from the port of Amsterdam.

[Beet]

This supports the Canada / Mexico hypothesis- from 2004 to 2013, there was no appreciable increase in U.S. outbound tourist traffic overseas (although remarkably, travel to the Middle East region tripled), however travel to Canada and Mexico increased from 9 million to 32 million. I'm assuming this is the result of an increased number of crossings being recorded.