Why Are US Citizens Proud of America? New Study Reveals 2 Key Reasons

A new Pew Research Center study set out to learn why citizens of 25 different countries, including the United States, are proud of their nation.

The study surveyed more than 30,000 people from various countries and found that “freedoms and liberties” were the two most common factors for why Americans said they are proud of their country.

A total of 22% of Americans said the nation’s freedoms and liberties made them proud. The “U.S. is one of a few countries surveyed in which this is the case,” according to Pew.

“I am proud that the United States has a commitment to individual liberty, freedom of religion, and speech for its citizens,” a 54-year-old American woman said on the survey.

But Pew also found the U.S. is the “only country surveyed in which there are significant partisan differences in pride over the country’s freedoms.”

Among those surveyed, 32% of Republicans mentioned freedoms and liberties being a source of national pride, while only 15% of Democrats used the words when describing why they are proud of the U.S.

Pew found other common reasons U.S. citizens were proud of their country, including the economy, “the American dream,” the American people, and the opportunities present in the U.S.

The other nations Pew surveyed are Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Poland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, and the U.K.

“Freedom” or “freedom of expression” was also a common source of national pride for 17% of respondents from Canada, 22% from France, 16% from Germany, 15% from Kenya, 11% from South Africa, and 24% from Sweden. Pew also notes that many Dutch praise the “large degree of freedom of speech” in the Netherlands.

July 4, 2026, marks America’s 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, in which the signers called themselves “a free people.”

The signers declared the Colonies “free and independent states … absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown.”

While survey respondents from the U.K. did not mention “freedom” as a significant source of national pride, 25% did say they are proud of the British people for being “kind” and “honest.”