The family is the ideal of the great majority of the population and, in fact, constitutes the primary and irreplaceable resource for the formation of the human and social capital of every society. These are some of the issues raised during the expert meeting, on 18 and 19 May, which was organized by the Pontifical Council for the Family with the aim of presenting and discussing the research done in different countries on the subject of "The Family as a Resource for Society," in view of the VIII World Meeting of Families to be held next September, in Philadelphia. In the course of this encounter, the results of investigations carried out in Argentina, Chile and the US, as well as those of the first stage of research involving Italy, Spain, Poland, Brazil and Mexico, were presented.
 
The research done in Italy has been the reference point for the overall design of the survey, which each country then adapted to their needs, and for the method of processing and interpreting the statistical and qualitative data: the study, edited by Pierpaolo Donati and with a preface by Card. Ennio Antonelli, has also been published by Il Mulino under the title “Famiglia risorsa della società." The recent meeting was an opportunity to acquire new knowledge about the situations of families in different regions of the world. The results show that the family founded on marriage between a man and a woman living with their children is the main support of social, cultural and economic development of all countries. It also clearly appears that the differences which characterize individual national contexts, with their different cultural traditions and ways of responding to the changes brought about by globalization, must be taken into account when it comes to formulating proper family policies in the particular cases. The overall results will be made public at the World Meeting in Philadelphia, and a summary of the research is available at the following link: