In 2015, 21 million visits were made by Canadian residents to the United States, compared with only 12.5 million visits by Americans to Canada, a striking disparity given that the U.S. population is more than nine times the size of Canada’s.When I say Canadians know much more about the U.S. than Americans know about Canada, who travels where is certainly a big factor. You see far more Canadian license plates in the U.S. than U.S. plates in Canada.
An average Canadian visits the U.S. roughly every 18 months, the average American visits Canada every 24 years. I've described this disparity anecdotally in a lecture on the "great, empty north" that forms one element of my cruise ship world affairs talks. It is good to have the actual numbers.
Many Canadians are almost-Americans, although they'd find that label offensive. Being well-informed about the politics and culture of the big neighbor to the south is a Canadian commonplace; vice versa, not so much. It would be a rare U.S. schoolchild who studies Canadian history or culture, while they routinely study ours.
