In some situations, it is necessary for accounts to be exempted from the automated confirmation period. The confirmed group contains the same rights as the autoconfirmed group, but can be granted by bureaucrats as necessary. There is no point in giving this right to a user whose account is already autoconfirmed, because it provides exactly the same abilities.
See also
[edit]- Wikivoyage:Autoconfirmed users
- Special:ListUsers/confirmed: list of users in this group