Special Eurobarometer 223: Social Capital

Within the framework of the European Union, European institutions are aware of the importance of developing and strengthening Social Capital networks in order to assure social cohesion and eliminate social exclusion. Moreover, the enlargement to 10 new member States last year implies challenges in terms of regional integration for which the development of the Social Capital may become essential. In this context of heightened awareness of people’s values and day-to-day interaction, the DG Employment and Social Affairs was interested in measuring the level of Social Capital networks in the European Union and in two candidate countries (Bulgaria and Romania). For this purpose, 25.978 interviews were conducted between 22nd November and 19th December 2004. The report aims to present the main results obtained during this poll. This report is divided in 6 parts: ♦ The context and determinants of Social Capital: personal satisfaction with main social, economical and political domains as well as satisfaction with personal fields ♦ Trust and socialization: generalized trust and informal socialization (time spent in socializing with friends, neighbours and work colleagues) ♦ Informal Social Capital ♦ Networks and associational activities ♦ Social capital and political and civic commitment ♦ The care of elderly. #####The results by volumes are distributed as follows: * Volume A: Countries * Volume AA: Groups of countries * Volume A' (AP): Trends * Volume AA' (AAP): Trends of groups of countries * Volume B: EU/socio-demographics * Volume B' (BP) : Trends of EU/ socio-demographics * Volume C: Country/socio-demographics ---- Researchers may also contact GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences: [https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer](https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer)