The rest of the world probably issued 1900 (joke, but maybe not far off).

I suspect those statistics might be missing a key point: Was that 19400 *initial issue* ATP's?

I'm guessing more likely it was total ATP certificates, which included every legacy pilot who changed planes and got a new type that year. Plus anyone else in 91/135 who got a new type on an ATP cert.

2024 was kind of a slow year for airlines, I don't think the US airlines hired anywhere near 19,000. And with the CTP requirement, there are fewer non-airline pilots getting ATP's.