85% of Georgians Claim Cultural Superiority

Pop culture website The Big Think recently published an article distilling results from a Pew Research Center study that asked residents of European countries one question: Do you think your culture is superior to that of people elsewhere?

Defining a "yes" answer as chauvinism, Greeks came out as the most chauvinist country with 89% viewing their culture as superior to others. Coming in a close second was Georgia with 85%. Rounding out the top 10 were: Armenia (84%), Russia (69%), Bulgaria (69%), Bosnia (68%), Romania (66%), and Serbia (65%) - all  in Eastern Europe.

The research found no correlation between feelings of cultural superiority and economic performance.

The low end of the spectrum was filled out by Baltic and Western European countries: Latvia (38%), Lithuania (37%), France (36%), the Netherlands (31%), Sweden (26%), Belgium (23%), Estonia (23%), and, the most modest of the bunch - Spain (20%). Interestingly, Spain's Iberian neighbor Portugal had twice the chauvinism with 47%. 

Another interesting neighborly deviation is between Sweden and Norway (58%). 

Notably, the same study conducted in the United States in 2012 revealed that 49% of Americans found their culture superior to others - down from 60% in the early 2000s. 

By Samantha Guthrie

Photo: The Big Think