diff --git a/src/CHANGELOG b/src/CHANGELOG
index 88fe04179..1a170098f 100755
--- a/src/CHANGELOG
+++ b/src/CHANGELOG
@@ -191,6 +191,8 @@ ECL 11.1.2
       ;; Collect all arguments including the first unknown one
       ("*DEFAULTS*" 1 (setf ext:*unprocessed-ecl-command-args* 1) :stop)
 
+ - ECL will always build, by default, with support for Unicode strings.
+
 ;;; Local Variables: ***
 ;;; mode:text ***
 ;;; fill-column:79 ***
diff --git a/src/configure b/src/configure
index 3a9e087bf..1d807eff0 100755
--- a/src/configure
+++ b/src/configure
@@ -1429,7 +1429,7 @@ Optional Features:
   --enable-local-gmp      Deprecated! See --with-system-gmp
   --enable-opcode8        interpreter uses 8-bit codes (default=NO, only works
                           on Intel)
-  --enable-unicode        enable support for unicode (default=NO)
+  --enable-unicode        enable support for unicode (default=YES)
   --enable-longdouble     include support for long double (yes|no|auto,
                           default=AUTO)
   --enable-c99complex     include support for C complex type (default=NO)
@@ -2842,7 +2842,7 @@ fi
 if test "${enable_unicode+set}" = set; then :
   enableval=$enable_unicode;
 else
-  enable_unicode=no
+  enable_unicode=yes
 fi
 
 
diff --git a/src/configure.in b/src/configure.in
index ae59206ec..d256e54b4 100644
--- a/src/configure.in
+++ b/src/configure.in
@@ -210,8 +210,8 @@ AC_ARG_WITH(sse,
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(unicode,
   AS_HELP_STRING( [--enable-unicode],
-                  [enable support for unicode (default=NO)]),
-  [], [enable_unicode=no])
+                  [enable support for unicode (default=YES)]),
+  [], [enable_unicode=yes])
 
 AC_ARG_ENABLE(longdouble,
   AS_HELP_STRING( [--enable-longdouble],