The United Nations may rate the true north strong and free as only the third best country in the world to live in, but a new poll says that most Canadians still regard their homeland as No. 1.

Almost 94 per cent of Canadians polled said their country is the best, or one of the best countries in the world to live in according to a NFO WorldGroup poll released Friday.

Residents of the Prairie provinces (78.6 per cent) and Atlantic Canada (77.9 per cent) showed the strongest levels of patriotism, while Quebec (53 per cent) gave the lowest approval to the current state of the country.

"I'm not surprised at all by the results," said David Stark, public affairs director of NFO CFgroup. "A few years ago we asked Canadians if they felt fortunate to live in Canada and we saw similarly impressive numbers."

More than 3,000 Canadians were asked, "If you could be born today in any country of your choice, which country would you choose?" in the poll, with 77 per cent saying they would choose to be born in Canada.

About 6 per cent selected the United States, while Australia and Britain were each picked by 2 per cent of Canadians.

"Canadians are proud of their country," Mr. Stark said. "They recognize that this is a great place to live."

The poll asked the same question to 2,505 residents of the United States. Eighty-three per cent of Americans said they would choose to be born today in their own country. Australia was a distant second choice at 6 per cent, and Canada was the pick of just 3 per cent of Americans.

On Wednesday the UN Human Development Index placed Canada third in its annual rankings. Canada had a seven-year run at the top of the list until 2001. Norway and second-place Sweden finished at the top in 2002.

The UN index ranks 173 countries using a composite yardstick of life expectancy, education and income per person. It is meant to add new dimensions to human well-being, in addition to income.

Canadians also showed optimism about Canada continuing to maintain its lofty UN index standing a decade from now, with about 89 per cent of Canadians surveyed saying they believe the country will likely remain one of the best countries in which to live.

The poll also asked people on both sides of the 49th parallel if Canada should become part of the United States.

Nineteen per cent of Canadian respondents said they would be in favour of the move, compared to 14 per cent of Americans. In Quebec, more than one-quarter (28 per cent) said they back the idea, the highest level of support among all provinces.

"Particularly in Quebec, the lure of the U.S. is there," Mr. Stark said. "In Canada there's sometimes a sense that the U.S. would like to acquire parts of Canada ... but the numbers from the U.S. should dispel any notions Canadians might have about people in the U.S. wanting to have some sort of North American country."

Researchers conducted telephone and on-line interviews with 3,022 Canadian adults between March 25 and April 17. For a survey sample this size, the margin of error is 1.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. For the American poll the results are considered accurate to within 1.9 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.