How many people do we know? Spanish research reveals answer

IN WHAT IS probably the largest social research project ever, La Caixa bank has released the answer to a question not many of us would have thought to ask – how many people does each of us know? Not just friends and family, or even close acquaintances, but the staff from our nearest bars and restaurants, from the supermarket, the dry cleaner's, or the regular customers we share a queue with or stand at a bus stop with. Basically, anyone we've ever spoken to more than once.

According to the Social Observatory, part of La Caixa's charity and culture foundation, the average person in Spain knows 536 other people. This includes people they have not seen or heard from for many years, but who, perhaps, are contacts on Facebook, or those they bump into regularly.

But when it comes to our close circle – friends, family and the closest of our acquaintances – the average is just 23.

It could be this means we potentially have another 513 people we've already broken the ice with and who could become our friends – although that figure is likely to include those who really annoy us or whom we try to avoid.

Across the board, most people know between 300 and 600 people; those who know just 200 or around 600 make up fewer than 10%, and those who know fewer than 100 or around 1,200 make up only 3%.

At the opposite end of the scale, very few residents in Spain know as many as 2,000 – below 1% - and although the very odd occasional respondent turned out to know 6,000 or more, this is extremely rare and few enough cases that could probably be counted by hand.

 

Gender and social situation

Men, on average, know about 50 more people than women – and the figures for Spain are not, apparently, unusual: so far, this same research has only ever been carried out in the USA, where the average person knows 550 other people.

To this end, it seems the cultural environment does not make a huge difference, but educational level, apparently, does: those with at least further education or sixth-form studies know fewer people than those with degree-level qualifications and more than those with only compulsory high-school education; those who have trained or studied formal qualifications since age 16 know an average of 600 people, compared with those who have not, who know an average of 400.

Of course, the average fluctuates according to where we live, although only the extremes have been reported in detail – those living in almost total rural isolation compared with those living on bustling urbanisations – but it is not necessarily the case that those who live in small villages know fewer people than those in big cities; the former are, especially in Spain, often close-knit communities where everyone knows each other by nickname only and where mail is addressed to residents care of the local bar, whereas a huge metropolitan area, like in any country, can be somewhat impersonal.

For occupational situations, those who know the most people are in employment, followed by students; unemployed people know far fewer, although those who know the fewest are the non-active population – retired persons or those who are disabled or sick and cannot work.

 

Age and earnings

According to the research, a direct relationship between income and number of people known has been found – those who earn more than the upper figure set for the study, over €2,400 net of taxes per month, know the most people, and those whose net income is €600 or less know the fewest.

Qualitative reasons have not been entered into, although it could be those on the lowest income cannot afford a social life or have to work much longer hours to make ends meet, or that those in the highest income bracket make their money through jobs that involve a great deal of professional networking.

Those aged 18 to 64 know the most people – an average of 690, the study says.

Age groups set for the research were 18-44, 45-64 and 65 and over, but those who fell into the first two categories showed equal results.

Those aged 65 and over know around 540 people, which La Caixa believes is partly due to now being retired, and partly due to the fact that 'as people age, they become more selective about the personal contact they have and with whom'.

 

Why does it matter?

The investigation, carried out with the help of the CIS (Social Research Centre) – which is also behind electoral polling – took a stratified sample of 2,200 people from all over Spain aged between 18 and 93 inclusive.

Its authors, Miranda Lubbers, José Luis Molina and Hugo Valenzuela, described the quantity, nature and quality of whom we know as 'social capital', and reveal that it has a high impact on personal health, finances and wellbeing.

Associations were found with larger family networks meaning people have greater financial support and support during illness, but no connection was found with family size and either emotional support or professional information.

The number of mere acquaintances was, surprisingly, linked to the amount of emotional and financial support a person has, although this did not translate to professional information or support during illness.

The more actual close friends a person has, the more likely they are to obtain emotional and financial support and professional information, as well as support during illness.

And those who knew the most people, even if only a tiny handful were friends or family, tended to have the highest levels of support in all ways – which is not necessarily automatic, since plenty of residents say they feel as though they 'know everyone' but 'still feel lonely'.

“We're considering researching further into the layers of social circles around people, to focus more on the differences in their makeup,” says Miranda Lubbers.

“Many factors can influence your personal relationships.

“For example, if you mostly know people with extremely low incomes, this distorts your view of society and makes you think this is 'normal'.

“What you see in other people dictates your level of confidence in society and in life.

“As well as taking part in social activities, we've seen that other factors influence the extent of your social circle – being young, being male, having a job, being highly-qualified and a high earner mean you'll know the most people.

“This said, taking part in at least one social activity increases the number of people you know by around 10%, and taking part in several increases that number by 29%.

“Other factors can be taken into account – having children at school, following a religious faith, or being married or having a serious partner, all increase the number of people you know, irrespective of age, income or gender.

“The median average number of people we know is 400, but there is a huge variation, giving a mean average of 536, but in extreme cases, the number can be several thousand or even in double figures.

“Acquaintances tend to be a less-traditionally valued social asset, but the study has shown they do have the ability to provide us with emotional and financial support – this is largely because they are the ones we spend the most of our time with, such as work colleagues.

“Our family and close friend circle tends to be in region of 23 people.”

The research so far reveals which groups are more vulnerable to isolation and lack of support, and allows authorities and associations to focus on helping them, Sra Lubber concludes.