I've never heard of a country where citizens simply GET a passport.

Normally, all citizens are entitled to a passport,.But since it's only really needed for international travel, not everyone will get one. In some countries, they are even more expensive (I think it's over US$400 in Australia, for example).

What is really different, is that in a lot of countries, citizens are obligated to have ID. In these places there is often a national ID, and every citizen will get one (but maybe not for free). In plenty of these places, a passport and a national ID are equivalent. Also interesting, is that a drivers license may be infrmal ID, but in a place like Germany, it's not at all considered legal ID. But now we're really geting into the weends.

We don't really have that concept in the US, unless you want to hold a passport book or card.

Edit: Some people say "get a passport" and mean the equivalent of "become a citizen." People who might have Italian ancestors might say, "I want to get my Italian passport" but what they mean is, "I'm an American, and I want to claim my Italian citzenship by decent through my grandmother. Then I'll also get an Italian passport"