We all want to be it. We all think we do it. We all think we have it. But do we?

What is the number of times you speak to your neighbours, and the number of people you know within your area? The answers to these questions give some indication of ‘neighbourliness’.
The National Statistics survey showed that proportion of people who say that they know many people in their neighbourhood increases with age. Almost three fifths of those aged 70 and over in Great Britain in 2000/01 said that they knew many people in their neighbourhood, compared with just over a third of those aged between 16 and 29. Over two fifths of those in the 70 and over age group said they spoke to their neighbours daily, compared with less than a fifth of those aged 16 to 29. In general a greater proportion of women (48 per cent) knew many people in their neighbourhood, compared with men (43 per cent).
Click here to view survey findings from the National Statistics database.

Community Spirit...Do we have enough?

Indications of the strength of community spirit and neighbourliness are calculated by people's perceptions of their local neighbourhood and since 1984 the British Crime Survey has asked adults in England and Wales the following question:

• In general, what kind of neighbourhood would you say you live in?

• Would you say it is a neighbourhood in which people do things together and try and help each other or one in which people mostly go their own way?

In 1984 the proportion of respondents who perceived their neighbourhood as one in which people 'go their own way' or one where people 'helped each other' were broadly similar, roughly 40 per cent each. However, in 1992 there was a sharp increase in the proportion of respondents who perceived that in their neighbourhood people mostly 'go their own way'...find out more by clicking here.