Welcome to the United Nations
The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, is a yearly reminder that ending poverty is not only about income, but about dignity, justice, and belonging. In 2025, the Day focuses on a powerful theme: Ending social and institutional maltreatment by ensuring respect and effective support for families. The aim is simple yet urgent, put the furthest behind first and build institutions that help families stay together, thrive, and shape their own futures.
Families living in poverty are often navigating impossible choices while confronting stigma, scrutiny, and systems that can punish rather than support. Around the world, parents—especially single mothers, Indigenous families, and those from historically discriminated groups—report daily experiences of judgment and control in places meant to help: schools, clinics, child protection offices, welfare agencies. These interactions too often erode trust, undermine agency, and can even result in family separation due to poverty, with lasting emotional and social harm for children and parents alike.
The 2025 theme is grounded in global consultations with people who have lived experience of poverty and with organizations working alongside them. It calls on all of us—policy makers, practitioners, and communities—to listen to families, recognize their efforts, and transform support systems so they are built on trust, respect, and collaboration.
What “maltreatment” looks like, and how to end it
Social and institutional maltreatment is not about a few bad actors; it is often embedded in rules and routines. Examples include intrusive surveillance of households, burdensome eligibility checks, humiliating service encounters, or under-resourced programs that default to separation rather than support. The result is a climate of fear and shame that can stop families from seeking help at all. To change course, the Day’s theme urges three shifts:
From control to care: Design services that start with trust. Reduce punitive conditionalities, streamline documentation, and prioritize respectful, person-centred interactions.
From surveillance to support: Rebalance investments away from monitoring and removal toward family-strengthening services: income support, quality childcare, adequate housing, mental health care, parenting support, and access to justice.
From top-down to co-created solutions: Involve families living in poverty at every stage—assessment, design, budgeting, delivery, and evaluation—so policies reflect real needs and constraints.
Supporting families is essential to achieving multiple SDGs: No Poverty (SDG 1), Zero Hunger (SDG 2), Good Health and Well-being (SDG 3), Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5), Decent Work & Social Protection (SDG 8), Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10) and Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions (SDG 16). Coherent policies across social protection, education, health, housing, and employment—designed and delivered together—create the conditions in which families can stay together and children can thrive.
This year’s observance takes place just weeks before the Second World Summit for Social Development (Doha, 4–6 November 2025), where governments, civil society, and partners will spotlight people-centred development and practical solutions to accelerate social progress. The Day’s call to respect, protect and support families is a vital contribution to that agenda—helping to turn commitments into concrete, measurable change.
A day for solidarity and for action
October 17 has always been about hope. It honours the perseverance of people living in poverty and invites everyone to work differently: listen deeply, act respectfully, and support effectively. When we move from judgment to partnership, we make it possible for children, parents, and communities to shape a more just and inclusive future.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s Message
Available in English | Français | Español | Русский | عربي | 汉语
Download Concept note English | Français | Español |