Family First:
Strong families build strong communities.
New research: The Family First Global Survey 2026 is out now.
Family First is a global movement to help families everywhere build stronger bonds across every generation.
Why Family First
Family is where we first learn to talk, to listen and to look after each other. It's also where many of us find our greatest support, from our earliest years through to old age. But the time families get to spend together is under pressure. Long working hours, busy schedules, screens and distance all make it harder to simply be together..
Family First was launched by the Varkey Foundation to change that. Founded by Sunny Varkey, founder of GEMS Education, the movement grows from a long-held belief that education reaches far beyond the classroom. It shapes values, and it shapes the parents, leaders and societies of the future.
Our mission is simple: to help families around the world build stronger bonds.
What we do
Show why close families matter
Through ongoing research, work with pioneers in the field and a
school-based curriculum, we make the case for the power and importance of a strong family.
Remove the
barriers to
family time
We work with governments, global institutions, employers, schools and parenting groups to give parents more room to spend quality time with their children.
Make quality time easy
We're building a large library of family bonding ideas for every kind of family and situation. We're also creating physical spaces designed around one purpose: bringing families together.
It starts with listening
To help families, we first needed to understand them. So we asked. The Family First Global Survey is the first step in our research programme and one of the largest studies of its kind in the world.
About the survey
The Family First Global Survey is the world's first intergenerational study of family bonding. It brings together the views of children, parents, Gen Z and grandparents across 15 countries. It also introduces the first Family Bonding Index, a country-by-country measure of how strong family connections are.
Every generation gave the same answer. Time together matters. But screens and work are making it harder to find.
82%
of parents say quality time with their family is very important. So do 79% of grandparents and 74% of children.
60%
of parents say screens and digital devices have harmed their family's chance to bond.
52%
of parents feel they are competing with devices for their child's attention.
54%
of parents say their family spends more time doing tasks than connecting.
48%
of parents say work pressure or lack of time stops them spending more time together as a family.
90%
of grandparents believe more time with family would be good for their health.
Together, but distracted
Screens came up again and again, and parents weren't the only ones raising them. Six in ten parents say devices have harmed their family's opportunity to bond. More than half feel they are competing with a phone or tablet for their child's attention.
Children see it too. A third (34%) say screen time stops them spending more time with their family, and half of grandparents (51%) say devices have harmed family bonding. Among Gen Z, 34% name screen time as the biggest obstacle to family connection. Only 12% say their family isn't distracted when they're together.
Too busy to connect
Almost half of parents (48%) say work pressure or a lack of time keeps them from bonding with their family. That rises to 68% in Kenya, 61% in Brazil and 59% in Malaysia.
Children notice it. 42% say their parents' work gets in the way of time together. And more than half of parents (54%) say family life has become more about getting things done than connecting with each other.
Time together still matters
Every generation values family time: 82% of parents, 79% of grandparents, 74% of children and 66% of Gen Z rate it as very important.
The picture changes from country to country, though. Among parents, 95% in Nigeria and Kenya and 94% in Brazil say quality family time is very important. In Japan the figure is 48%, in China 64% and in the UAE 74%. Children show a similar spread, from 94% in Brazil and Nigeria and 89% in India down to 55% in Japan, 58% in Sweden and 59% in Argentina.
Care runs both ways. 81% of parents plan to look after their own parents as they get older, rising to 96% in Nigeria, 93% in Malaysia and 90% in Brazil.
What grandparents told us
For older people, family time is closely tied to wellbeing. Nine in ten grandparents (90%) believe more time with family would benefit their health. 42% say it would improve their mental health, and 40% say it would leave them happier or less lonely.
The Family Bonding Index
The full report includes the world's first Family Bonding Index. It gives each of the 15 countries a score based on how strong its family connections are.
"This landmark report clearly shows that family bonds are under strain. Economic pressures, conflict, geographical distance and technological change all make it harder for families to spend meaningful time together. Across many societies, this is contributing to weaker intergenerational relationships, greater loneliness among older people and less time shared between children, parents and grandparents. Yet the family remains the most fundamental building block of every community, making it more important than ever to understand, protect and strengthen these relationships."
Sunny Varkey, Founder of Family First and the Varkey Foundation
About the research
Family First commissioned the research agency We Are Family to carry out the survey. In January and February 2026, We Are Family interviewed 6,002 parents, 6,011 of their children aged 9 to 18, 3,000 grandparents of children aged 9 to 18, and 3,000 Gen Z participants.
Countries: Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, India, Japan, Kenya, Malaysia, Nigeria, Sweden, UAE, UK and US.