New Zealanders near top in national pride survey

Americans and Venezuelans lead the world in national pride, but New Zealanders are not far behind and Maori are prouder of New Zealand than the rest of the population, a new report shows.

The National Opinion Research Centre in the United States surveyed 33 nations for the report.

The researchers asked a series of questions related to general national pride, asking people to what extent they agreed with statements such as, "I would rather be a citizen of my country than any other country in the world," and "Generally speaking, my country is a better country than most countries".

On the general pride measure, people in Venezuela scored 18.4 out of a possible 25. Then followed the US (17.7), Australia (17.5), Austria (17.4), South Africa (17), Canada (17), Chile (17.1), New Zealand (16.6) and Israel (16.2).

A second set of questions was about national pride in specific areas, such as the nation's achievements in science and technology, the arts, sports and political influence in the world.

The US led this with 4.0, followed by Venezuela (3.6), Australia (2.9), South Africa (2.7), New Zealand, (2.6), Chile (2.6), the Philippines (2.3) and Israel (2.3).

Within the surveyed countries, national pride was generally lower among minority groups - with the notable exception of the Maori in New Zealand and Muslims in the Philippines.

In the general national pride category Maori scored 17.5, compared to the rest of the population on 16.4.

In the specific category the Maori score was 3.6, ahead of the European score of 2.6.

- NZPA