International Day of Families is celebrated every year on 15th May. It’s a UN recognised international day which promotes awareness and sensitivity about family values. The theme of this day for 2025 is : Family-Oriented Policies for Sustainable Development: Towards the Second World Summit for Social Development .
As the world prepares for the Second World Summit for Social Development in November 2025, the International Day of Families (IDF) will spotlight the pivotal role of family-oriented policies in advancing sustainable development. Held under the theme “Family-Oriented Policies for Sustainable Development: Towards the Second World Summit for Social Development”, the event will highlight key insights from national and regional initiatives, emphasizing the role of families in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The Second World Summit for Social Development:
The Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha, Qatar (4-6 November 2025) presents a crucial opportunity to strengthen commitments to poverty eradication, decent work, and social inclusion. The Summit builds on the 1995 Copenhagen Declaration, which recognized families as the foundation of society and underscored the need for work-family balance and equal partnerships within households.
The International Day of Families 2025 observance will emphasize the importance of integrating family-focused policies into national development agendas to address megatrends such as technological transformation, demographic shifts, urbanization, migration, and climate change.
How the value to families were assigned at global scale :
During the 1980’s, the United Nations began focusing attention on issues related to the family. In 1983, based on the recommendations of the Economic and Social Council, the Commission for Social Development in its resolution on the Role of the family in the development process (1983/23) requested the Secretary-General to enhance awareness among decision makers and the public of the problems and needs of the family, as well as of effective ways of meeting those needs.
In its resolution 1985/29 of 29 May 1985, the Council invited the General Assembly to consider the possibility of including in the provisional agenda of its forty-first session an item entitled “Families in the development process”, with a view to consider a request to the Secretary-General to initiate a process of development of global awareness of the issues involved, directed towards Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and public opinion.
In its resolution 44/82 of 9 December 1989, The General Assembly proclaimed The International Year of the Family.
In 1993, the General Assembly decided in a resolution (A/RES/47/237) that 15 May of every year should be observed as The International Day of Families. This day provides an opportunity to promote awareness of issues relating to families and to increase the knowledge of the social, economic and demographic processes affecting families.