Passed my test in the UK a couple of weeks ago (I'm 30 years old) it was just assumed that I would be learning manual. In fact I had everybody I know tell me to learn manual (even the people that learned automatic) simply because it means I can drive both with a manual licence.
I'd say most cars in the UK are manuals, far fewer automatics. I don't have exact numbers to hand, but from googling I'm seeing ~20% of cars on the roads are automatics.
Unlike most other countries I'm aware of, in the US you're allowed to drive a manual car after taking the test in a car with an automatic transmission.
Passed my test in the UK a couple of weeks ago (I'm 30 years old) it was just assumed that I would be learning manual. In fact I had everybody I know tell me to learn manual (even the people that learned automatic) simply because it means I can drive both with a manual licence.
I'd say most cars in the UK are manuals, far fewer automatics. I don't have exact numbers to hand, but from googling I'm seeing ~20% of cars on the roads are automatics.