[Omah]

Originally Posted by lostalex

i'm not having a go! lol sorry, i just thought it was widely known that the UK is a single country.

It might be widely known in the USA, because few US citizens know much about the world outside their state boundaries and even fewer know much about Europe and beyond :

Of the 308 million-plus citizens in the United States, 30% have passports.

That's just too low for such an affluent country, said Bruce Bommarito, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the U.S. Travel Association.

"Americans are comfortable in their own environment," Bommarito said.

There were 61.5 million trips outside the United States in 2009, down 3% from 2008, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries. About 50% of those trips were to either Mexico or Canada, destinations that didn't require a passport until 2007.

So, roughly only 15% have passports required for travel beyond North America and most of those will presumably go to the military .....