About International Day of Friendship
The International Day of Friendship is a United Nations day on 30 July, which in 2027 falls on Friday, 30 July 2027. The General Assembly proclaimed it in 2011 to link friendship between people, countries and cultures to the work of peace, and it is marked with school and community events rather than gifts. The day most Indians actually mark is Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August, which is a separate and older popular custom.
This is the official friendship day, and it is not the one most Indians use. The United Nations keeps 30 July. Your friends will message you on a Sunday in August.
What is the International Day of Friendship?
It is a United Nations observance on 30 July, proclaimed by the General Assembly in 2011 through resolution A/65/L.72. The thinking behind it is plain: friendship between people, countries and cultures makes conflict less likely, so the day is treated as peace work rather than as a social occasion.
The resolution sits inside UNESCO's culture of peace framework, which the General Assembly adopted in 1997 as a set of values and habits that reject violence and try to deal with the causes of conflict. It also puts weight on young people, asking that they be drawn into activities that build respect across cultures. Member states were invited to mark the day in line with their own local customs, which is why it looks different from country to country.
Who started the International Day of Friendship?
The push came from Paraguay, decades before the UN acted. On 20 July 1958, at a dinner with friends in Puerto Pinasco, a town on the Paraguay river, Dr Ramón Artemio Bracho proposed a world day for friendship. The group formed the World Friendship Crusade, a foundation that promoted friendship between people regardless of race, colour or religion, and it campaigned for more than fifty years before the UN agreed in 2011.
One footnote from the same history: in 1998 Winnie the Pooh was named the world's Ambassador of Friendship at a UN event run with Disney.
Why does India keep Friendship Day in August and not on 30 July?
Because the Indian habit is older than the UN day and came from somewhere else. The first Sunday of August was already the friendship day in Indian schools and colleges through the 1990s, picked up from the American National Friendship Day that the greeting card trade started in the 1930s. The UN day arrived in 2011, long after the Sunday was fixed in people's heads.
| Day | Date | Started by | What happens |
|---|---|---|---|
| International Day of Friendship | 30 July, fixed | UN General Assembly, 2011, after the Paraguay campaign of 1958 | Statements, school and college sessions, UN and NGO events |
| Friendship Day in India | First Sunday of August | No single founder. Card shops and campus culture, 1990s | Friendship bands, cards, messages, meet-ups |
Neither day is a public holiday in India, and neither appears on the central government holiday list.
How is the International Day of Friendship marked?
Mostly by institutions rather than by individuals. The UN and its agencies publish statements and run events, and governments, schools and civil society groups are encouraged to hold activities that build understanding between communities and countries.
That makes it a better fit for a classroom or an office than for a card. Things that suit the day: a session where students talk to a school in another state or country, a shared meal with a neighbourhood you do not usually mix with, a short reading in assembly on how the day started in Paraguay. What does not suit it is a mass-forwarded greeting, which misses the point of a day built around peace between strangers.
What should I write on the International Day of Friendship?
Aim outward. The messages that fit this day are for people slightly outside your circle, and they work best when they name one real thing the person did.
Happy International Day of Friendship. Different passports, same arguments about whose food is better. Glad the world is small enough for us to stay in touch.
Happy International Day of Friendship. We have never met in person and you have still bailed me out a dozen times. Thank you for that.
Happy International Day of Friendship. Our families have looked out for each other for years without making a thing of it. I am glad you live next door.
Happy International Day of Friendship. Moving is hard and the first months are the worst of it. Come over for a meal this week, and bring nothing.
Happy International Day of Friendship. We agree on almost nothing and it has never once got in the way. That is rarer than it should be.
On the International Day of Friendship, kept on 30 July since 2011, one small thing to try: speak to somebody in this building you have never spoken to.
Do
- Name the kindness. "You translated that whole form for my mother" beats a paragraph about togetherness.
- If you are posting for a school or office, say what the day is and when it started. Most people do not know.
Avoid
- Do not hand out friendship bands on 30 July and expect people to follow. Bands belong to the August day.
- Do not use the day as one line about world peace and nothing else. It reads as filler.
Other days with the same purpose: International Day of Peace on 21 September and International Day of Happiness on 20 March. For the August day and its bands, see Friendship Day.
How to wish someone on International Day of Friendship
This day is about friendship across borders and differences, so the wish that fits is aimed at someone outside your usual circle: a colleague in another country, a neighbour of another faith, a classmate new to the city. Keep the friendship bands and the long nostalgic messages for Friendship Day in August. A short line that names a real kindness works better than anything about world peace.
Write a few lines in your own words, pick a design and share it as one link on WhatsApp, Instagram or anywhere else. They open an animated card made just for them, with no app and no sign-up.
Language tip: English, Hindi + recipient language.
When is International Day of Friendship in 2026 and 2027?
International Day of Friendship is on 30 Jul every year. Only the weekday changes.
- 2026
- 2027
Frequently asked questions
When is International Day of Friendship in 2027?
International Day of Friendship 2027 falls on Friday, 30 July 2027.
Why did the United Nations create a day for friendship?
Because the General Assembly treats friendship between people, countries and cultures as something that helps prevent conflict. The 2011 resolution places the day inside UNESCO's culture of peace framework and asks member states to involve young people in activities that build respect across cultures.
Is the International Day of Friendship the same as Friendship Day in India?
No. The International Day of Friendship is the United Nations day on 30 July. Friendship Day as Indians keep it is the first Sunday of August, an older popular custom with no official backing, and that is the day friendship bands are tied and cards are sent.
Who was Ramón Artemio Bracho?
He was a Paraguayan doctor who proposed a world day of friendship at a dinner in Puerto Pinasco on 20 July 1958. The group around him formed the World Friendship Crusade, which campaigned for more than fifty years before the United Nations proclaimed 30 July as the International Day of Friendship in 2011.
How can a school or office mark the International Day of Friendship?
Keep it to things that cross a line people do not usually cross. A talk or video call with a school in another state or country, a short assembly on how the day began in Paraguay, or a shared meal with a group in the neighbourhood you rarely mix with all fit the day better than a group greeting.
Do people tie friendship bands on 30 July?
Rarely in India. Bands belong to the first Sunday of August, when schools, colleges and shops all treat it as Friendship Day. Tying one on 30 July is not wrong, but most people will assume you got the date mixed up.
Last verified by the Kehdoo team on .