By Aspen McAdoo

   A passport is one document that a citizen of any country can have and is one necessity for traveling to foreign countries. There are many factors that go into whether or not one has a passport such as their economic situation or desire to travel abroad. Many people just have it as a form of identification or to ensure they are ready should they need it. 

   Minors’ (15 and younger) passports must be renewed every five years, while passports for those older than 15 must be renewed every ten years. According to usafacts.org, there were 160.7 million valid US passports in 2023 which means about 48 percent of the population has one. That is a 36.8 percent increase from 2013 and a 5.8 percent increase from 2022. Part of this could be due to people traveling abroad and studying the world for a substantial amount of time. Passports are gradually becoming a more popular document throughout the USA. 

   At Ponte Vedra High School (PVHS), 116 out of 150 surveyed people had a valid passport. Out of those 116 people who had a valid passport, 97 of them have used it to travel out of the country. Jack Brady, a junior at PVHS said, “I got my passport when I was like four years old because my family traveled a lot, and I got it renewed a few years ago. Before I got my driver’s license, I was able to use my passport as identification but now I only ever use it if I go out of the country.” As the majority of the population gets older their passports mainly get used for traveling outside the country, instead their Driver’s License gets used for identification. 

   Stuart Streva, a freshman at PVHS said, “I got a passport when I was younger planning on using it to go out of the country but that never happened. Now it’s just used as my ID, so it’s been pretty useful even though I haven’t been out of the country. But I would love to travel and explore the world someday.” Some parents make their kids have a passport to be safe and have a source of identification but don’t use it to travel and just use it as an ID.

   Students who got a passport before the age of 15 may have expired passports they don’t even know about. So, many of them have an invalid passport without even realizing it. Carter Lang, a sophomore at PVHS said, “I got a passport when I was nine because my family went out of the country, but I haven’t needed or used it since then. I haven’t got it renewed since then so I don’t have a valid passport.” Some people can find passports very useful or find no reason to use a passport at all.

   Some people might have passports but don’t use them and just got one to have one. A major reason people don’t get passports is because of how expensive a passport is. A US passport is about $130 and to some Americans that isn’t financially attainable. Combined with some people’s little interest in traveling out of the country a passport isn’t a necessity to about half of the American population.

   The passport is on the rise but still only half of the population in America has one. Many people get it for the specific reason of being able to travel out of the country but they end up using it many different ways. Many people would love to go out of the country or have been and that’s why they have a passport. The passport is a document that is able to connect a citizen to their home country.

Pictured: Passports from the USA