Pride in Britain’s history and achievements has plummeted over the last decade, a survey of national attitudes has found.
Fewer people now think that to be ‘truly British’ somebody must be born in the United Kingdom, the annual British Social Attitudes survey also reveals.
In the last decade people have become less likely to take pride in the country’s achievements and less likely to feel Britain is better than anywhere else.
Some 86 per cent of people said they were proud of Britain’s history in 2013, but this figure has now fallen to just 64 per cent.
Meanwhile less than half of people now say they would rather be a citizen of Britain than of anywhere else, compared with 62 per cent in 2013. And only 53 per cent now take pride in Britain’s democracy, down from 69 per cent in 2013.
People are less likely to take pride in Britain’s achievements, with fewer agreeing that somebody must be born in the United Kingdom to be ‘truly British’, the annual British Social Attitudes survey showed (file image)
Less than half of people now say they would rather be a citizen of Britain than of anywhere else, the survey revealed (file image)
Just 64 per cent of respondents said they were either ‘proud’ or ‘very proud’ of Britain’s history, down from 86 per cent in 2013
British gold medalist Keely Hodgkinson at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Most people still take pride in Britain’s cultural and sporting achievements
The survey has been conducted annually since 1983 and is the longest-running measure of public opinion in Britain (file image)
Despite this, most people still take pride in Britain’s cultural and sporting achievements. Almost 80 per cent say they are proud of Britain’s achievements in arts and literature, with 77 per cent proud of our sporting achievements.
The findings are from the National Centre for Social Research (NatCen)’s 41st British Social Attitudes (BSA) report. The survey has been conducted annually since 1983 and is the longest-running measure of public opinion in Britain.
The report states: ‘British identity has come to be conceived to an even greater extent than before in primarily civic, inclusive terms that potentially leave the door open to newcomers.
‘It has also become a society that is less likely to take pride in its past rather than its present, though for the time being at least it has also become more doubtful about its current political standing too.’
Researchers found that the proportion of people who consider themselves to be British has remained largely unchanged.
But more people now take an ‘inclusive’ approach to who can call themselves British.
The proportion of people who think that to be ‘truly British’ it is important that somebody was born in Britain has fallen from 74 per cent in 2013 to 55 per cent now.
Similarly, those who believe it is important to have British ancestry has dropped from 51 per cent to 39 per cent.
Across Britain, 78 per cent of those who support Brexit believe having been born in Britain is important to being ‘truly British’, compared with 45 per cent of those who favour EU membership.
The findings also reveal that each new generation is less likely than those born in previous decades to believe that it is important for someone to have been born in Britain.
Some 73 per cent of those born in the 1940s believe it is important to be born in the UK in order to be British, compared to 54 per cent of those born in the 1970s and 47 per cent in the 1990s.
Across Britain, 78 per cent of those who support Brexit believe having been born in Britain is important to being ‘truly British’, compared to 45 per cent of those who favour membership of the EU (file photo)
More people take an inclusive approach to who can call themselves British, with those who believe it is important to have British ancestry dropping from 51 per cent to 39 per cent (file image)
Researchers said: ‘The fact that the UK has experienced relatively high levels of immigration over the last two decades or so means that, in combination with previous waves of immigration, Britain has become a more diverse society in terms of ethnic origin, linguistic background, and religion.’
‘Perhaps this experience has encouraged people to become less exclusive in their conception of what it means to be British, and to take the view, for example, that current commitment matters more than past ancestry,’ they added.
Gillian Prior, deputy chief executive at NatCen, said: ‘These research findings show that whilst we are less likely to take pride in British history and more critical about its politics, there is still a great deal of national pride in the country’s cultural and sporting achievements.
‘This change in attitudes may have been influenced by the increased diversity and shared citizenship within Britain, presenting a portrait of a nation redefining itself.’
The British Social Attitudes survey consisted of 5,578 interviews with a representative, random sample of adults in Britain and was conducted between September 12 and October 31, 2023.
