Social Networks and Social Cohesion in the Netherlands: Insights from Combined Administrative and Survey Data

Statistics Netherlands (CBS) has recently developed the whole population network (Person Network) file, based on administrative microdata, which includes over a billion interpersonal relationships among approximately 17 million inhabitants of the Netherlands, spanning each year from 2009 onward. Additionally, over the past decade, CBS has conducted the annual Social Cohesion and Well-being (SSW) survey, gathering responses from 83,667 representative individuals on various indicators of social cohesion, including social contacts, volunteering, political participation, and trust in others and institutions. In this study, we construct a merged dataset linking the Person Network file and the SSW survey. We examine the associations between social network centrality and 17 indicators of social capital, including a composite index, and further analyze how family and neighbourhood network centrality relate to self-reported contact with family members and neighbours. While some statistically significant relationships are found, particularly for family centrality, the associations are generally weak, suggesting that current network abstractions capture limited aspects of actual social capital. The findings underscore the need for more refined and substantively meaningful network measures to better understand the structure and quality of social interactions.