It's basically the same for modern cars in the US, too.

I lease a Toyota Corolla and bring it in for the regular maintenance every 6 months, as instructed. They only change the oil every other visit, or roughly every 10-12k miles. The other visits are just inspections and tire rotations.

The maintenance guide says the oil should be changed every 5k miles only if driving under "special operating conditions":

- Driving on dirt roads or dusty roads

- Driving while towing, using a car-top carrier, or heavy vehicle loading

- Repeated trips of less than five miles in temperatures below 32°F / 0°C

- Extensive idling and/or low speed driving for a long distance such as police, taxi or door-to-door delivery use

It depends on cars, and on quality of oil and on driving style/habits, I had a (German BTW) turbodiesel car where the on-board computer would tell me when the oil change was necessary, and it averaged every 30,000 to 33,000 km (which happened after a little more than one year). I changed car only when (12 years old) it was around 340,000 km without having ever had any engine related issue (and it was still running fine, I changed it only because a relative's car with only 80,000 Km became available).

Because it is "harmless" and supports the oil change companies therefore they spread the myth that you need to change your oil more often than is required as a treat to your engine.