0 Declining social capital in the Netherlands and beyond? Hans Schmeets Statistics Netherlands / Maastricht University
1 Overview -Social capital in The Netherlands and Europe -Trends in social capital -Social capital and Well-being
Social Trust (trust in others) by country, Source: CBS/ESS
Trust and Participation in 17 European countries The Netherlands: high trust - Trust in other people: 5th -Trust in national parliament: 5th -Trust in politicians: 1st And also high in participation: -Social contacts: 3th -Volunteering: 1st -Political participation: 5th 3
Trust in national parliament by country, 2010 Source: CBS/ESS 4
Trust in politicians by country, 2010 Source: CBS/ESS 5
6 From High Trust into Low Trust? “In just a few years the Netherlands slipped from a high trust society to a low trust society. (…) Politicians fuel the dissatisfaction amongst the population.” (Fukuyama, 2010)
Decline in social capital in NL? NO! Aspects of social capital are stable or even increasing: -Social trust: increase -Institutional and political trust: increase -Contacts with friends and family: increase -Contacts with neighbours: stable -Providing informal help: stable -Volunteer work: stable/increasing -Political actions: stable -Turnout: stable …..Examples… 7
8 Social and institutional trust (NL) %
Relatives82%86% Friends77%80% Neighbours67%66% Social contacts: weekly
10 Informal help: past month Informal help (general) 31%30%
11 Volunteering,
Trends in Voter Turnout, : stable Parliamentary Regional Municipal European 12
Turnout Elections,
Political participation and Proxy Voting,
15 Large differences between subpopulations -Religion: -Higher scores among protestants, lower among Muslims -Education: -Higher scores among higher educated -Country of origin -Native population higher, non-western immigrants lower - example
16 Aspects of social capital by education
Weekly contacts with relatives, friends or neighbours, selected countries Presentation title 17
18 Meer happiness among people with : More social contacts Higher turnout Trust in other people Trust in institutions Trust in politics
Trend in well-being, (NL)
A change in marital status and Subjective Well-being Years before life-eventYears after life-event Life event
21 Thank You !