The Mexico MICS 2015 is the country's first experience with implementing a MICS survey. MICS is a key tool for Mexico to glean insights on children and women as it helps to fill data gaps on a wide range of areas, including early childhood development, child discipline, maternal health and water and sanitation. The information collected in the survey will also serve as a baseline to track Mexico’s progress on 15 indicators of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
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11,760 households were visited by the field teams and information was collected on more than 8,000 children under five, 12,000 women and 11,500 children age 5-17 years. The sample was designed to estimate 136 indicators with possible disaggregation at the national level, urban/rural, for 5 regions of the country and for indigenous populations.
Findings from the survey show that Mexico has made considerable progress in the realization of rights for children and adolescents yet they also reveal stark inequalities between population groups, which will be used as evidence for the formation of responsive strategies. The final report, key findings report and datasets are available on the surveys page of our website. Some of the key findings are presented below.
EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
Among children age 3-4 years old, 60 per cent attend an early childhood education programme and 76 per cent had an adult family member participating in four or more activities for learning and school preparedness during the three days before the survey. While 76 per cent of children under age five years have at least two types of play things, only 35 per cent have two or more children’s books in their homes.
BREASTFEEDING
Although almost all children were breastfed at least once (95%), initiation of breastfeeding in the first hour was particularly low – at only half (51%) of children born in the two years preceding the survey.
IMMUNIZATION
34 per cent of children age two years had received all the recommended vaccines for their age and 6 per cent had not received a single recommended vaccine.
WATER AND SANITATION
98 per cent of the Mexican household population uses an improved source of drinking water. 90 per cent of households have a specific place to wash hands where there is soap and water or another cleansing agent available.
CHILD FUNCTIONING AND DISABILITY
Child functioning is now a standard module in MICS6 (see MICS6 questionnaires). The Mexico MICS included the module while the methodology was being finalised in 2015-16. The survey found that 2 per cent of children age 2-4 years and 11 per cent of children age 5-17 years have severe functioning difficulties in at least one of the domains measured according to the methodology.
The Mexico MICS was conducted by the National Institute of Public Health as part of the overall MICS program . The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) Country Office in Mexico provided technical and financial support. Access the key findings report, final report and datasets on the surveys page of our website to learn more.