Social Indicators and Indicator Systems:
Tools for Social Monitoring and Reporting
Heinz-Herbert Noll
ZUMA – Social Indicators Department
Mannheim, Germany
www.gesis.org/sozialindikatoren/
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Two Basic Functions of Social Indicators:
 Measurement and Monitoring of Wellbeing and Social Progress
 (comparative) monitoring of changes in living conditions and the
quality of life:
- is the quality of individual life and societies getting better or worse across
time?
- how is life in one society, region, city compared to other societies, regions ...
 Monitoring of General Social Change
 (comparative) monitoring of structural changes and progress in
modernization
- how do social structures change across time
- what are the structural differences between societies, regions etc.
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Social Reporting
 major application of social indicators (research)
 monitoring + analysis + interpretation
 based on aggregated data & microdata analysis
 specific advantages and disadvantages of official and
non-official approaches
 plurality of approaches and activities needed, including
science based social reporting
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Social Indicators and Social Reporting:
Knowledge for Whom and What?
 to inform and enlighten citizens and the general public
 part of ‘democratic infrastructure’
 to provide expert knowledge for political elites, administrations and governments
 to provide information for research and education
 overall: creation and supply of knowledge for the continuous
selfreflection of societies
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Basic Requirements of Constructing a System of Social Indicators
Key Questions:
 how to choose a limited number of subjects / dimensions of measurement
from an unlimited social universe?
 how to organize the measurement and monitoring processes?
Key Elements of an Indicator System:
 framework or rationale needed to identify and justify the selection of dimensions

of measurement to be addressed
system architecture needed to set up the basic structure and to define procedures of measurement
Formal Criteria to be respected by constructing a system of (social) indicators:




comprehensiveness
consistency
non-redundancy
parsimoniousness
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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German System of Social Indicators
- created in the 1970‘s
- 14 life domains
- ca. 400 indicators
- ca. 3000 time series
- from 1950 onwards as far
as data available
- Digital Information System
Disi 2.1 (bilingual)
free download
- selection of 83 ‚keyindicators‘ (www)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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European System of Social Indicators
Overall Objective:
 to develop a theoretically as well as methodologically well-grounded set of
social indicators to be used to monitor quality of individual life and societies
as well as changes in the social structure at the European level
General Properties and Requirements:
 science based, theory and concept driven approach
 comprehensive and integrated system
 use of most appropriate - valid and reliable - indicators
 use of best available databases and ensuring cross-national comparability
Final Product:
 EUSI - Electronic European Information System Social Indicators
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Data, Policy and Concept Driven Approaches of Indicator Construction

Data Driven
Data  Indicators  Classification of Indicators
e.g. Eurostat‘s „list of social Indicators“

Policy Driven
Policy concerns  policy objectives  Indicators  Data
e.g. „Common Indicators Relating to National Strategies for Safe
and Sustainable Pensions“ by Indicators Subgroup of the
EU –Social Protection Committee

Concept Driven
Concept  Measurement Dimensions  Indicators  Data
e.g. European System of Social Indicators (EUSI)
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Life Domains & Measurement Dimensions
Life Domains
Dimensions of Welfare
• Population, Households and Families
• Transportation
• Leisure, Media and Culture
• Social and Political Participation and
Integration
Domain-specific Measurement Dimensions
e.g.
Child Care Services
Income Inequality
• Income, Standard of Living, and
Consumption Patterns
Trust in Educational
System
• Education and Vocational Training
Health Prevention
• Health
Environmental Impacts of
Housing
• Housing
• Labour Market and Working Conditions
• Social Security
• Public Safety and Crime
• Environment
• Quality of Life

Objective Living Conditions

Subjective Well-Being
• Social Cohesion

Disparities, Inequalities, Social
Exclusion

Social Ties/Social Capital
• Sustainability

Human Capital
Occupational structure

Natural Capital
Attitudes towards
Environmental Protection
Dimensions of Social Change

Sociodemographic and -economic
Structure

Values and Attitudes
• Total Life Situation
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Some Additional Elements of System’s Architecture

Indicators:
objective (outcomes, resources, conditions, inputs)
and subjective (outcomes)

Coverage
EU15 - Member States + Norway, Switzerland, Czech Republic,
Hungary, Poland, Japan, United States
new EU member states are being included successively

Periodicity of Observation
Starting point of time-series: 1980; year by year observations as far
as data are available

Level of Regional Disaggregation: NUTS-1 or similar level as far
as meaningful and data are available

Data Sources: Aggregated Data: for example EUROSTAT – Databases; Microdata: for example ECHP, LIS, Eurobarometer, ISSP,
World-Value-Surveys, European Social Survey
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Coverage of Child Care Services for Children Aged less than 3 Years
In % of Best Practice (DK)
100
90
% (Best Practice= 100)
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
100
76
74
63
49
43
43
25
16
14
11
0
DK
D-E
S
N
UK
FIN
F
JAP
H
I
(2000) (1998) (1998) (2000) (2000) (1999) (1999) (2000) (2000) (2000)
8
5
4
D
A
PL
D-W
(1998) (1999) (2000) (1998)
Country
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Dimension: Disparities, Inequalities and Social Exclusion
Life Domain: Labour Market and Working Conditions
Indicator:
Ratio of Unemployment Rates of Women and Men
3 ,0
Gr eece
2 ,5
2 ,0
It aly
B elg ium
1,5
F r ance
W - Ger many
1,0
U nit ed King d o m
0 ,5
0 ,0
19 8 3
19 8 4
19 8 5
19 8 6
19 8 7
19 8 8
19 8 9
19 9 0
19 9 1
19 9 2
19 9 3
19 9 4
19 9 5
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19 9 6
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19 9 7
19 9 8
19 9 9
Dimension: Demographic and Socio-economic Structures
Life Domain: Labour Market and Working Conditions
Indicator:
Employment in the Service Sector (in %)
NL
L
U.S.
S
UK
N
B
F
DK
CH
FIN
JAP
IRL
D
A
I
E
GR
H
CZ
P
PL
1980
2002
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Page 13
80
Dimension: Subjective Well-being
Life Domain: Income, Standard of Living and Consumption Patterns
Indicator:
Possibility to live comfortable on present income (in %)
DK
63, 9
56, 4
L
S
53, 6
NL
53, 4
52, 1
N
CH
51, 9
UK
42, 0
B
40, 8
I RL
37, 9
I
33, 8
A
31, 1
E
30, 5
D
30, 4
FI N
CZ
21, 5
10, 4
10, 3
GR
8, 4
P
6, 5
H
4, 8
PL
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Database: European Social Survey 2002 / 2003
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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70
Two Major Forms of Giving Access to the Data:
 Website: www.gesis.org/en/social_monitoring/social_indicators/EU_Reporting/eusi.htm
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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 Electronic European Information System Social Indicators (Prototype)
Planned: Web-based Electronic Information System
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Potential Uses and Applications:
 Tool for Comparative Research
- descriptive background information for various kinds of analysis
- database for the comparative charting and analysis of social change
- database to be used to test macro-sociological hypotheses
 Tool for General Social Monitoring and Reporting
- comparative information on current state and changes of individual
living conditions, wellbeing and societal quality
 Tool for Policy Making
- information on goal achievement
- information on convergence and divergence
- information on best practice: benchmarking
- identification of deficiencies and need for action
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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Total Fertility Rate by Supply of Child Care Services
1,9
F
N
1,8
FIN
1,7
UK
DK
1,6
TFR
1,5
D-W
S
1,4
PL
D
1,3
A
H
JAP
2
R = 0,5393
1,2
I
1,1
1
0
10
20
30
40
50
Child Care Services
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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60
Life Satisfaction by GDP per Capita (PPP)
10
9
DK
M
A
FIN
8
IRL
IS
S
GB
L
SLO
D
CZ
P
B
ES
HR
F
7
GR
Life satisfaction 2000
PL
R2 = 0,8121
SK
BG
6
U
A
EST
BY
HU
RUS
5
4
3
2
1
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
35000
40000
45000
GDP per capita 2000
OECD World Forum “Statistics, Knowledge and Policy”, Palermo, 10-13 November 2004 -
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50000
55000