Social capital in the United Kingdom: evidence from six billion friendships

Social capital – the network of personal and group-based relationships in a society – has long been thought to be an important factor in shaping economic opportunity. In the United States, Chetty et al. (2022) found that children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to achieve higher incomes in adulthood in communities that foster more friendships between high- and low-income individuals.

In this study, we examined whether similar patterns hold in the United Kingdom. Our measures of social connection are based on data from Facebook for approximately 20 million UK residents (about 58% of the population aged 25–64). We estimated each person’s income and social connections, examining factors such as network cohesion, volunteering, and friendships between different income groups.

Using economic mobility data from England (LEO dataset), we analysed how social ties impact economic opportunity. We also studied the link between social capital and well-being using survey data on life satisfaction, trust, and support. Finally, we use Facebook data to estimate economic mobility across the UK, extending beyond England.

Key findings

• UK friendships bridge economic divides. High-income people in the UK have more high-income friends, but social networks are less stratified by class than in the US. The poorest 50% of people in the UK still have about half (47%) of their friendships with high-income people, compared to about 39% in the US.
• Friendships across economic lines are more common in the South of England, particularly in the areas around London. In contrast, cross-class friendships are less common in regions such as South Wales, parts of Northern England, the Scottish Central Belt, and Northern Ireland.
• Communities with higher rates of friendship between low- and high-income individuals have higher rates of upward mobility. Low-income children who grew up in the top 10% of the most economically connected local authorities in England earn 38% more per year on average (£5,100) as adults relative to low-income children in the bottom 10% of local authorities.
• Most friendships form locally and in schools, while hobby groups and workplaces promote cross-class friendships among their members. Residential segregation often limits the amount of cross-class interactions and connections in neighbourhoods and schools. Workplaces and hobby groups promote more cross-class friending among their members, but people typically only form a small portion of their friendships in these settings.
• Social capital is associated with higher subjective wellbeing. People with more high-income friends, or a tightly-knit social circle, report higher happiness, life satisfaction, trust, and feelings of belonging. After controlling for personal income, people with the highest share of very high-income friends (1 in 5) report 5% higher happiness levels and 23% greater trust, compared to people with the lowest share of very high-income friends (1 in 40).
• Data from Facebook can be used to measure economic mobility for the entire UK. These measures are constructed by linking individuals on Facebook to their parents and line up well with existing measures of economic mobility in England.

This research was carried out by an international consortium including BIT, together with Meta, Stripe Partners, the RSA, Neighbourly Lab, and researchers from Stanford and Opportunity Insights.

The work of BIT, the RSA, Stripe Partners, and Neighbourly Lab on this project is funded by the Nuffield Foundation. However, the views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the Foundation. Contributions from Meta are self-funded.