Proud Americans

Chicago: Americans are No 1 when it comes to national pride, according to a survey of 34 democracies.

Venezuela came in a close second for having the most patriotism, according to the report from the National Opinion Research Centre at the University of Chicago.

People rated how proud they were of their countries in areas such as political influence, economic success, sports and history.

They survey ranked 34 countries, mostly in Europe and the Americas, with several Asian countries represented.

"The two things [Americans] rank high on are what we think of as the political or power dimension," said Tom W. Smith, who wrote the report and directs the General Social Survey at the university's research centre. "Given that we're the one world superpower, it's not that surprising."

THE LIST

1. US
2. Venezuela
3. Ireland
4. S. Africa
5. Australia
6. Canada
7. Philippines
8. Austria
9. New Zealand
10. Chile
11. UK
12. Israel
13. Uruguay
14. Finland
15. Spain
16. Denmark
17. Switzerland
18. Japan
19. France
20. Portugal
21. Hungary
22. Bulgaria
23. Norway
24. Russia
25. Sweden
26. Slovenia
27. Germany (West)
28. Czech Republic
29. Taiwan
30. Latvia
31. Korea
32. Slovakia
33. Poland
34. Germany (East)