Declining social capital in the Netherlands and beyond

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

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

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

Trust and Participation in 17 European countries The Netherlands: high trust - Trust in other people: 5 th - Trust in national parliament: 5 th - Trust in politicians: 1 st And also high in participation: - Social contacts: 3 th - Volunteering: 1 st - Political participation: 5 th

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

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

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 Ø …. . Examples…

Social and institutional trust (NL) % 8

Social contacts: weekly 1997 2009 Relatives 82% 86% Friends 77% 80% Neighbours 67% 66% 9

Informal help: past month Informal help (general) 1997 2009 31% 30% 10

Volunteering, 1997 -2009

Trends in Voter Turnout, 1989 -2011 • 1989 - 2011 : stable • • Parliamentary Regional Municipal European

Turnout Elections, 1989 -2011

Political participation and Proxy Voting, 2006 -2010

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

Aspects of social capital by education 16

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

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

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

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

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