Social policy covers a great number of issues, which do not stand on their own but, as is increasingly recognized, are both diverse and interlinked. For example, tackling social exclusion involves simultaneously addressing barriers to labor market reintegration, health care issues and educational aspects. Social indicators have been developed to provide the broad perspective needed for any international comparison and assessment of social trends and policies. By linking social status and social response indicators across a broad range of policy areas, social indicators help readers to identify whether and how the broad thrust of public social policies and societal actions are addressing key social policy issues.
Society at a Glance captures information on a wide range of topics, including fertility rates, asylum seekers and refugees, employment, retirement ages, early childhood education and care, replacement rates, relative poverty, the gender wage gap, social expenditure, potential years of life lost, health infrastructure, suicide, group membership, and prisoners.