Measuring Social Capital - an Australian Framework and Indicators

Social capital is a topic of considerable interest to a wide range of people because of its links to individual and community wellbeing. There is as yet no internationally agreed framework of what constitutes social capital, how it accumulates in society, the impacts on communities and individuals, or how to measure the various elements and dimensions of social capital. 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. These are described in this publication.