A National Approach to Measuring Social Capital

Davis EM¹*

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra, ACT Australia

Social Capital is a topic of considerable interest to a wide range of people because of its links to individual and community wellbeing. Following extensive consultation the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has developed a broad conceptual framework for statistics on social capital as well as a set of possible indicators for measuring aspects of social capital.

Social capital is a multidimensional concept, and different elements of the framework may be appropriate for different purposes. Those interested in education or public health, for instance, may focus on different areas from those whose interest is in community renewal. The ABS framework provides a way of organising and relating these different approaches.

Information relating to different elements of the framework is available in existing ABS collections, including the 2002 General Social Survey (GSS) and National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). A social capital topic under development for the 2006 GSS will expand the range of national data and represent further elements of the framework. Design and testing of questions take place up to August 2005, and some results of the testing are discussed. A further issue considered in this paper is the relationship between data collected at a national level, the different State Government collections and work being done at local community levels.

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