Report: Americans and Venezuelans Lead the World in National Pride
When it comes to being proud about their country, people in the United States and Venezuela lead the world, according to a new report produced by the National Opinion Research Center.
Among 33 nations surveyed, the United States was the nation with the leading score in pride over specific accomplishments and Venezuela was the leading nation in the general national pride portion of the survey.
Although the countries have been at odds recently over a variety of issues, they do share a common trait with most of the top 10 nations in the national pride survey — they are both relatively new nations that once were colonies.
“These countries formed their national identities through conflicts that bound their people together and created a national story that resonates with citizens,” said Tom Smith, Director of the General Social Survey at NORC. Smith co-authored the paper, titled “National Pride in Comparative Perspective: 1995/96 and 2003/2004,” with University of Chicago researcher and graduate student in sociology Seokho Kim.
The paper was published in the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, and it is based on surveys conducted by the International Social Survey Program, a consortium of survey researchers throughout the world.
Researchers collaborated on the survey to see what changes have developed in national pride over the past decade and also to gauge the impact of globalization on people’s feelings about patriotism.
