Percentage of Americans with passports over time

Percentage of Americans with passports over time. 

"Over the past 30 years, the share of U.S. citizens holding a passport has increased dramatically. Last year, a grand total of 21.4 million passports were issued in the U.S., the highest number ever recorded. Putting that number into perspective, a mere 6.3 million were issued back in 1997. That year, only 15 percent of Americans possessed a passport, though that's still far more than in 1990 when just four percent had one, according to the BBC.

The pace of growth accelerated further in January 2007 when U.S. citizens traveling by air between the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, and Bermuda were required to have a valid passport. Previously, it was possible for them to enter those countries without one but the law was changed in the aftermath of 9/11. Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act in 2004 which mandated the development of a plan requiring all foreign nationals entering the U.S. to have a passport. The plan was announced in April 2005 before coming into effect in January 2007.



The share of the U.S. population with a passport stood at 27 percent in 2007 and that has now increased to 42 percent. As impressive as recent growth has been, the share of passport holders still lags far behind other developed countries. In Canada, 66 percent of people had a passport in 2016 while in the UK, 76 percent of people in England and Wales have one."~Niall McCarthy, Forbes"

Source: Forbes