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In many countries a professor is usually extremely distinguished in their field, with perhaps twenty years' research experience, and you will only get a couple of them in each department, with some universities not having any.

I think in the US everyone just automatically gets the title 'professor.'

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The same ranks exist in the US:

1. Assistant Professor

2. Associate Professor

3. [Full] Professor

As far as I know, you should only use the title "Prof." to refer to a "full" professor, and "Dr." for assistant and associate professors. In reality, everyone is just referred to as a "professor".

Exactly. Except I thought you should use "Prof" for anybody with Professor in their title.

My University also has a few other titles: Acting Prof, Research Prof, and of course Prof Emeritus

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