Swede here. Never have I been to a household that does not have a potato peeler. You use it for everything. Potatoes, carrots, apples, pears, sweet potatoes... Sometimes cucumber if you're making something weird/garnishy. People use knives to peel potatoes‽
Sometimes a household is a more fluid concept than you'd like and not everything in a kitchen moves from one instance of a household to the next. But there's always a knife around and sometimes you just want a potato so you peel with what you got. But then when your household gets more stable you remember what a great time-saver a potato peeler is.
People that have moved around a lot and never had a chance to assemble a lot of cooking utensils until recently. But I'm glad your life has been so charmed you can't imagine someone not taking a potato peeler for granted.
I don't have one, because I haven't peeled a potato (or carrot) in my adult life.
The skin is nutritious and healthy, and throwing away food unnecessarily is wasteful. If you're making mashed potatoes, just cut the peel up smaller enough to be texturally inoffensive.
Edit: Also every recipe I know of involving carrots works just fine with the peel on.