February 3, 2024 – In the 3rd edition of the Georgia Civic Health Index, the data shows an increase in voting rates from 2017 to 2021, while measures of Georgians’ social connectedness and community involvement declined.
Click here to download the 2023 Georgia Civic Health Index
The third edition of the Georgia Civic Health Index (CHI) was released today Georgia Family Connection Partnership (GaFCP), the Georgia Municipal Association (GMA), Georgia City Solutions, and the National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC).
The report examines civic engagement measures and explores the way Georgians interact with each other, their communities, and in political life under four main areas of civic health: social connectedness, community involvement, political action, and confidence in institutions.
Georgia’s national ranking has dropped in several measures since the second edition of the report was published in 2019, including:
- frequently posting views about political, societal, or local issues on the internet or social media—13th to 35th,
- frequently discussing political, societal, or local issues with family or friends—33rd to 44th, and
- frequently volunteering—44th to 50th.
Georgia ranks lowest in the nation—51st—in frequently talking with or spending time with neighbors and frequently reading, watching, or listening to news or information about political, societal, or local issues. Beyond that, only 7.7% of Georgians reported they frequently do favors for neighbors compared to 10% nationally.
Research has linked strong civic health to other positive community outcomes, including economic resilience, workforce development, access to opportunity, lower violent crime rates, and community vitality, as well as other public health outcomes, including child development, adolescent well-being, mental health, and reduced mortality.