1. 0 Declining social capital in the Netherlands and beyond? Hans Schmeets Statistics Netherlands / Maastricht University

2. 1 Overview -Social capital in The Netherlands and Europe -Trends in social capital -Social capital and Well-being

3. Social Trust (trust in others) by country, 2010 2 Source: CBS/ESS

4. 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

5. Trust in national parliament by country, 2010 Source: CBS/ESS 4

6. Trust in politicians by country, 2010 Source: CBS/ESS 5

7. 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)

8. 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

9. 8 Social and institutional trust (NL) %

10. 9 19972009 Relatives82%86% Friends77%80% Neighbours67%66% Social contacts: weekly

11. 10 Informal help: past month 19972009 Informal help (general) 31%30%

12. 11 Volunteering, 1997-2009

13. Trends in Voter Turnout, 1989-2011 1989 - 2011 : stable Parliamentary Regional Municipal European 12

14. Turnout Elections, 1989-2011

15. Political participation and Proxy Voting, 2006-2010 14

16. 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

17. 16 Aspects of social capital by education

18. Weekly contacts with relatives, friends or neighbours, selected countries Presentation title 17

19. 18 Meer happiness among people with : More social contacts Higher turnout Trust in other people Trust in institutions Trust in politics

20. Trend in well-being, 1997-2009 (NL)

21. A change in marital status and Subjective Well-being Years before life-eventYears after life-event Life event

22. 21 Thank You !