Objective: To describe the family and social characteristics of patients hospitalized in the Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño San Borja from April to December 2018. Materials and methods: A descriptive, observational and analytical research. Probability sampling was used in a study population of 4,383 patients. The sample consisted of 573 patients, with a 96 % confidence level and a 4 % margin of error. A data collection sheet included in the medical record was used as instrument. The data was processed using the IBM SPSS Statistics statistical software. Results: Forty-seven point one two percent (47.12 %) of the patients came from Lima Metropolitan Area, 2.97 % from the Constitutional Province of Callao, and 49.91 % from inland, including Lima Province. Seventy-three point six five percent (73.65 %) of the patients lived in poverty, 24.26 % lived in extreme poverty, and only 2.09 %...