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Research
Health and wellbeing

Social Capital 2025: Reinforcing the bedrock of the nation’s health

18 Feb 2025

In this paper, Adam Coutts, Shuting Xia and Senhu Wang examine the contribution of strengthening social capital to improve health and wellbeing and reducing crime and antisocial behaviour.

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Reinforcing the bedrock of the nation’s health summarises the relevant research from the social sciences, social epidemiology, public health and psychology between 2000 and 2024 that examine the effects of social capital on mental health, mortality risk and health behaviours. The conclusion maps out possible directions for research and policies to guide the UK towards a ‘whole-of-society’ approach to health and how to build the preventative state.

This paper is part of the Social Capital 2025 series, published by Demos in collaboration with Local Trust and 3ni.

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