The role of social capital in subjective quality of life

Quality of life originated as a social indicator in economics and sociology and comprises both subjective and objective dimensions. Conventional monetary and objective indicators (e.g., income, CO2 emissions, life expectancy) do not fully capture community well-being. Quality of life involves physical, material, social, and emotional domains, and recent work has emphasized subjective aspects from policy perspectives. Social capital (SC), encompassing cognitive (norms, trust) and structural (interactions, civic engagement) components, has gained recognition as a determinant of quality of life. Prior studies link SC to life satisfaction and health but often focus on single domains and developed countries. This study extends the literature by examining three subjective quality of life domains—self-reported life satisfaction, self-reported health, and perceived economic inequality—across both developed and less developed countries. Using a multinational survey of 100,956 respondents in 37 countries, the study compares associations across low- and high-income country groups to provide broader evidence on SC and subjective quality of life.

Design and data: Cross-sectional, multinational survey data covering 37 developed and developing countries across all continents, totaling 100,956 respondents. Surveys were conducted for one month in each country between June 2015 and March 2017. A web-based approach was used in 32 countries; face-to-face interviews were used in five countries where web surveys were infeasible. Sampling targeted population age and gender strata with nationwide random selection. Translations and checks by native administrators ensured response accuracy. Measures: Subjective quality of life was proxied by three dependent variables measured with single items: (1) life satisfaction (overall satisfaction with life), (2) self-reported health (overall health status), and (3) perceived economic inequality in the local community. Each used a five-point response scale. For comparability, variables were dichotomized: life satisfaction (1 = slightly/completely satisfied; 0 = otherwise); good health (1 = good/very good; 0 = very poor/poor/neither); large economic inequality (1 = slightly high/very high; 0 = does not exist/not so high/average). Key independent variable: Social capital (SC) measured at individual and country levels. SC included trust and civic engagement dimensions. Social trust: importance of believing people/organizations (5-point) and neighborhood safety (5-point). Civic engagement: attachment to local community (scale: detached to attached), frequency of participation in community activities (0 to 6, from none to more than four days/week), and importance of relationships with family and with friends/acquaintances (important vs not important). Individual SC score was the arithmetic average of these items. Country-level average SC was the weighted mean of individual SC scores within each country. Other covariates: Individual-level—age, gender, educational attainment (none, primary, secondary, tertiary), and household income. Household income categories in local currency were converted to real values using midpoint of ranges and adjusted using PPP to USD. Country-level—average SC and country income group (low-income: lower-middle and upper-middle; high-income) based on World Bank 2019–2020 GNI per capita. Statistical analysis: Multilevel logistic regression (individuals nested within countries) with logit link modeled each binary outcome: life satisfaction, good health, and large perceived economic inequality. Models included individual-level predictors (age, gender, education, log personal income, SC score) and country-level predictors (average SC, country income group). Random intercepts captured between-country variance. Cross-level interactions tested: (a) average SC with education, (b) average SC with income, and (c) individual SC score with country income group. Model comparison used the deviance information criterion (DIC). Analyses were conducted in MLwiN version 2.36.

- Descriptive statistics (N = 100,956 across 37 countries): 74.1% reported being slightly or completely satisfied with life; 72.7% reported good or very good health; 47.8% reported slightly or very large economic inequality (52.2% reported none/low/average). - Life satisfaction: Higher individual SC score was strongly associated with higher odds of reporting life satisfaction (OR ≈ 2.33 in the model including both individual- and country-level variables). Younger age, female gender, higher educational attainment, and higher income were also associated with greater life satisfaction. Cross-level interactions showed that higher country-level average SC increased the odds of life satisfaction across all education levels, with the largest advantage among tertiary-educated individuals. The positive association between individual SC and life satisfaction was stronger in low-income countries than in high-income countries, and the gap widened as individual SC increased. - Health: Higher individual SC score was associated with higher odds of reporting good health (OR ≈ 2.06), and average SC was also positively related. Older age was associated with lower odds of good health; women reported lower odds than men. Cross-level interactions mirrored life satisfaction: benefits of SC for health were more pronounced in low-income countries, with widening gaps at higher SC scores; increasing average SC generally improved health across education levels (with some exceptions for primary education). - Perceived economic inequality: Individual SC was negatively associated with reporting large local economic inequality, and higher country-level average SC was associated with lower perceived inequality overall. Cross-level interactions revealed that with increasing average SC, all education groups showed decreasing odds of perceiving large inequality, with a stronger negative trend among those with secondary education. Importantly, individual SC interacted with country income group: in low-income countries, higher individual SC was associated with lower perceived inequality, whereas in high-income countries higher SC corresponded to higher perceived inequality. - Education and inequality perceptions: Higher educational attainment tended to increase perceptions of economic inequality, but this effect diminished as country-level SC increased. - Overall, the association of SC with better subjective health and higher life satisfaction was stronger in low-income than in high-income countries, while SC related to lower perceived inequality in low-income settings but higher perceived inequality in high-income settings.

The study set out to assess whether and how social capital relates to subjective quality of life across diverse national contexts. The findings indicate that SC is a robust correlate of higher life satisfaction and better self-reported health at both individual and contextual (country) levels, supporting the notion that noneconomic social factors underpin better lives. Cross-level interaction patterns suggest that SC may be particularly consequential in low-income countries, where increases in SC amplify life satisfaction and health more than in high-income contexts, potentially reflecting stronger reliance on communal resources and networks where formal institutions and material resources are more constrained. Regarding perceived economic inequality, higher average SC corresponds to lower perceived inequality overall, and individual SC is associated with lower perceived inequality in low-income countries. In high-income countries, however, higher individual SC coincides with higher perceived inequality, possibly reflecting heightened civic awareness, information flow, or social comparison in more developed settings. Education increases sensitivity to inequality, but stronger country-level SC attenuates this effect, consistent with the idea that social cohesion and trust mitigate inequality perceptions. These patterns align with prior literature linking trust and civic engagement to well-being and suggest that policies fostering SC could yield subjective well-being benefits, particularly in developing contexts. They also imply that cultural and lifestyle factors interact with economic conditions to shape how SC translates into lived experiences, highlighting the need for integrative social policy approaches beyond purely economic indicators.

This multinational analysis demonstrates that social capital is positively associated with life satisfaction and self-reported health and is generally negatively associated with perceived local economic inequality. The beneficial associations of SC with satisfaction and health are stronger in low-income countries, and increased SC reduces perceived inequality in low-income contexts but raises it in high-income contexts. Policy implications include: fostering SC to improve quality of life—especially in developing countries; enabling social contact across income groups to reduce perceived inequality; and leveraging educational institutions to strengthen SC by transmitting social norms. Future research should examine causal mechanisms using longitudinal or experimental designs, broaden subjective quality of life measures beyond three single-item domains, and incorporate richer SC measures capturing both cognitive and structural facets. Comparative work across cultural contexts can further delineate when and how SC enhances well-being versus heightens awareness of social disparities.

- Cross-sectional design precludes causal inference between SC and outcomes. - Potential omitted variable bias despite controls for age, gender, education, and income. - SC measurement, while covering trust and civic engagement, used a limited set of items and may not capture all facets of SC. - Subjective quality of life proxied by only three domains, each measured with a single item; multiple-item scales could provide greater reliability and nuance. - Limited statistical power for country-level effects (N = 37 countries), constraining detection of contextual influences and generalizability. - Mixed survey modes (web and face-to-face) and cross-national harmonization challenges, despite translation checks, may introduce measurement variability.