I have traveled many places, and lived in Germany for a year twice. I have
found that you can find ignorance anywhere, and anyone who stereotypes any
group of people is showing their own ignorance. But as to your statistical
question I have found some numbers for you
if you would like to correct your own ignorance. Keep in mind that passports
are good for 10 years and not everyone renews them on-time. Also if your to
lazy or just don't know how "Americans" is spelled, here you go.
Here's the link if you don't believe me...
http://travel.state.gov/passport_statistics.html
U.S. Passports Issued Per Calendar Year (1974-1995)
1974 - 2,415,003
1975 - 2,334,359
1976 - 2,816,678
1977 - 3,107,122
1978 - 3,234,471
1979 - 3,169,999
1980 - 3,020,468
1981 - 3,222,346
1982 - 3,763,995
1983 - 4,121,534
1984 - 4,718,205
1985 - 4,967,895
1986 - 4,109,132
1987 - 4,872,403
1988 - 4,060,803
1989 - 3,690,830
1990 - 3,688,689
1991 - 3,387,245
1992 - 3,282,488
1993 - 4,207,716
1994 - 4,895,151
1995 - 5,263,989
U.S. Passports Issued per Fiscal Year (1996 - present)
Note: As of 1996, passport statistics are tabulated for the fiscal year.
1996 - 5,547,693
1997 - 6,295,003
1998 - 6,539,864
1999 - 6,722,198
2000 - 7,292,182
2001 - 7,119,506
2002 - 7,001,482
2003 - 7,300,667