19 December 2024
In a milestone for children’s data in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the General Authority for Statistics (GASTAT), the Family Affairs Council (FAC), and the UNICEF Gulf Area Office (GAO) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in Riyadh on Thursday, 5 December 2024 to undertake the Kingdom’s first Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).
With support from MICS, the Government will collect nationally representative data covering a broad range of topics, including health, nutrition, education, child protection, and up to 40 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicators.
The MoU follows progress made under the “Strengthening Child Data Systems in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia” project, launched in 2022 in collaboration with the Family Affairs Council. Guided by a comprehensive Data Action Plan, partners identified MICS as a crucial tool to address the existing data gaps and identify ecosystem opportunities for strengthening child data systems in the Kingdom.
Approved by a Royal Decree in late 2022, the MICS in Saudi Arabia will be part of the global MICS7 round, with fieldwork expected to take place in 2025. Representatives from GASTAT and FAC have already participated in the MICS7 survey design workshop, ensuring readiness to implement a survey that meets international standards of quality, comparability, and reliability. Results are expected to be available towards the end of 2025 or early 2026.
