Only one other country issued more stamps than US in 2005

Denise McCarty reports in the Aug. 6 edition of Linn's Stamp News only the Ivory Coast issued more stamps and souvenir sheets in 2005 than the United States. This is according to a recently relased survey conducted by Michel-Rundschau, the German-language magazine published monthly by the producers of the Michel stamp catalogs.

The top ten postal administrations that issued the most stamps in 2005...

Ivory Coast, 417
United States, 184
Japan, 175
Grenada, 167
France, 161
Australia, 156
Singapore, 151
Mexico, 139
Romania, 137
The Marshall Islands 135

Also on the list of 270 postal entities...

Great Britain, 108
Canada, 83
United Nations ( New York), 27

A total of 10,941 stamps and souvenir sheets were issued worldwide in 2005 according to the survey. This total represents 415 fewer stamps than were issued in 2004 and 6,603 fewer than were released in 2000, the year with the highest total (17,544).