Social Capital, Negative Event, Life Satisfaction and Sustainable Community: Evidence from 37 Countries

This study investigates the effect of social capital and negative events in 37 countries across six continents on subjective well-being, to improve the quality of life in creating sustainable cities and communities. Using large-scale, original, individual-level, cross-sectional survey data, we examine the relationships among negative events in social networks, social capital, and individuals’ subjective well-being. The negative impacts of these events on life satisfaction were found in both high-income and non-high-income countries. Moreover, people’s well-being was highly associated with well-organized social networks across all 37 countries, whereas the magnitude of the effects varied, this might be because the benefits realized from social network are variated across countries. Policies aimed at improving life satisfaction should not only focus on increasing the household income but also consider the substantial impact of social capital.