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Is flying safer than driving? 

This holiday season means a big bump in travel. People are traversing the country and globe by planes, trains, and automobiles. There are many ways to reach your destination, but given traffic, weather, and high-profile air travel incidents, [which is safer: flying or driving]([link removed])?  

- There were 689 serious injuries in US air travel from 2002 to 2022, an average of 33 per year. In that same time, 48 million people were hurt in passenger vehicles on US highways — that’s approximately 2.3 million per year.  

[Chart on passenger fatality rates]([link removed])

- In 2022, the fatality rate for people traveling by air was 0.003 deaths per 100 million passenger miles traveled. The death rate for people in passenger cars and trucks on highways was 0.57 per 100 million miles. 

- As for passenger deaths, 796 people died during air travel. Twenty-seven percent of these deaths happened during scheduled commercial flights. The other 73% involved on-demand air taxis, which are small aircraft of 10 seats or fewer that make trips on demand.  

- Passenger car and truck accidents accounted for 552,009 highway deaths, an average of 26,286 fatalities annually.  

- Public buses and trains (including subways and streetcars) accounted for 8,030 passenger injuries and 26 fatalities in the US in 2023, the most recent year of available Transportation Department data. 

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How many US passports are in circulation? 

Thinking about planning a trip abroad now that you know the safest way to travel? Don’t forget your passport! [More and more US passports are in circulation]([link removed]), but there are differences when it comes to which states have the most passport holders.  

- The total number of valid passports in circulation has grown from 7.3 million in 1989 to 160.7 million in 2023 — a 22-fold increase. The valid passport rate (including passport books and cards) increased from 0.03 per person in 1989 to 0.48 in 2023. 
- From 2013 to 2023 alone, the number of valid US passports in circulation rose 36.8%.  

[Map of passports issued]([link removed])

- In fiscal year 2023, Washington, DC, residents were issued 37.6 passports per 100 people. New Jersey residents were issued about 8.3 per 100 people, followed by Massachusetts (7.7), Hawaii (7.6), and New York (7.5). 

- US residents made 80.7 million international trips in 2022, up 65.7% from 2021. However, that’s 18.7% lower than the 2019 total of 99.3 million trips abroad. 

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Data behind the news

Did the talk in Washington, DC, about government shutdowns leave you with questions? [Here’s everything you need to know]([link removed]) about shutdowns.  
 
Think fast; it's the [weekly fact quiz]([link removed])! 

One last fact

[The US imported more than it exported]([link removed])

In 2023, the US imported [$1 trillion more than it exported]([link removed]), marking the sixth consecutive year with a trillion-dollar trade deficit. 
 
Its highest trade deficits were with China ($279 billion), Mexico ($152 billion), and Vietnam ($105 billion). 
 
The nation has the largest trade surpluses with the Netherlands ($43 billion), Hong Kong ($24 billion), the United Arab Emirates, and Australia (both $18 billion). 

 

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