The Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) are household surveys implemented by countries under the programme developed by the United Nations Children's Fund to provide internationally comparable, statistically rigorous data on the situation of

child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

ren and

women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...

. The surveys were first developed in India with the support of UNICEF as part of the Child Survival and Safe Motherhood programme where an "Extended" CES modelled around the Immunization CES Surveys were conceived and conducted at district and state level as part of the CSSM programme launched in 1992. The Extended CES in India included indicators related to Diarrhoea, Vitamin A and Malnutrition in the case of children and Antenatal visits and maternal immunization for mothers. The survey covered 22 indicators. UNICEF in Bangladesh adapted this Extended CES to additional indicators and conducted the first ever MICS for 28 indicators in all 64 districts of Bangladesh in 1993 and published a book 'Progathir Pathey'. India followed suit and added the additional indicators and conducted its own MICS in three different settings - Urban, Rural and Tribal and together were involved in a global meeting at Dhaka in August 1994 to discuss progress and orient UNICEF staff from several countries. There still were lingering doubts and a workshop was held in Geneva in November 1994 involving various UN agencies, UN Statistical Division, LSHTM, CDC and other experts who reviewed progress in India and Bangladesh and together determined that the methodology and sampling is rigorous enough to produce valid estimates for reporting national progress on indicators from the World Summit for Children. The UNICEF Executive Director, Mr. James P. Grant then issued an Executive Directive in November, 1994 urging all regions and country offices in UNICEF to support countries carry out the surveys as part of the reporting on progress against World Summit for Children goals. The first round of surveys (MICS1) was carried out in over 60 countries in mainly 1995 and 1996 in response to the World Summit for Children and measurement of the mid-decade progress. A second round (MICS2) in 2000 increased the depth of the survey, allowing monitoring of a larger number of globally agreed indicators. A third round (MICS3) started in 2006 and aimed at producing data measuring progress also toward the

Millennium Development Goals In the United Nations, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were eight international development goals for the year 2015 created following the Millennium Summit, following the adoption of the United Nations Millennium Declaration. These w ...

(MDGs), A World Fit for Children, and other major relevant international commitments. The fourth round, launched in 2009, aimed at having most data collection conducted in 2010, but in reality most MICS4s were implemented in 2011 and even into 2012 and 2013. This represented a scale-up of frequency of MICS from

UNICEF UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...

, now offering the survey programme on a three-year cycle. The fifth round, launched in 2012, was aimed at offering countries the tools to do the final MDG data collection. In 2016, the sixth round was launched with an effort towards collecting baseline data for the new set of global goals and targets - the

Sustainable Development Goals The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...

(SDGs). The seventh round was launched in 2023, with a continued focus on the SDGs and adoption of additional complex measurements, such as on mental health, time-use, and others. As of 2024, more than 400 surveys have been completed or confirmed in more than 120 countries and territories. The MICS is highly comparable to the Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) and the technical teams developing and supporting the surveys are in close collaboration. The termination of the DHS program during the week of February 24, 2025 and suspension of USAID funding has the potential to curtail the DHS surveys at country level considerably and the UNICEF supported MICS will be a major source of data from LICs and LMICs in future. The historical data of DHS of over four decades will however be available for use and for comparison and trends.

Survey tools

At the core of MICS is the list of indicators. In MICS6 this was a compilation of 200 distinct indicators (237 counting those requiring sex disaggregate). The list was not inclusive of all standard tabulations produced in a full survey, but forms those that were central to global monitoring by UNICEF and others. The list of indicators has been a central message in all rounds of MICS, as no question is asked in the questionnaires without directly contributing to an indicator algorithm or a background variable. Thus, survey-specific additional questions are always suggested to follow the same guidelines: No question should be asked without a clear plan for tabulation of results.

Questionnaires

The MICS questionnaires are: * Household, administered to any knowledgeable adult member of the household (in MICS1–MICS3 this was to the head of household). * Women, administered to all eligible women (age 15–49) of the household. * Children under age five, administered to their mothers. If the mother is not listed as a member of the household, a primary caregiver is identified as the respondent to this questionnaire. * As of 2011, a questionnaire for men (age 15–49) has also been developed and is included in the generic set of questionnaires. * As of MICS6, a questionnaire for children age 5–17, administered to the mother of a randomly selected child per household. In MICS, the generic questionnaires include all modules, such that implementers only should remove non-applicable or non-desired modules and questions, e.g., the ITN module in non-malarious countries. The full set of generic modules in MICS6 included:
Household Questionnaire * Household Information Panel * List of Household Members *

Education Education is the transmission of knowledge and skills and the development of character traits. Formal education occurs within a structured institutional framework, such as public schools, following a curriculum. Non-formal education als ...

* Household Characteristics * Social Transfers * Household Energy Use * Insecticide Treated Nets *

Water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

and

Sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...

Handwashing Hand washing (or handwashing), also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning one's hands with soap or handwash and water to remove viruses, bacteria, microorganisms, dirt, grease, and other harmful or unwanted substances stuck to the han ...

* Salt Iodisation * Water Quality (a module, but designed as a separate questionnaire, due to sub-sample selection) Individual Questionnaire for Women * Woman's Information Panel * Woman's Background *

Mass Media Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...

and ICT * Fertility/Birth History ( Mortality) * Desire for Last

Birth Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring, also referred to in technical contexts as parturition. In mammals, the process is initiated by hormones which cause the muscular walls of the uterus to contract, expelling the f ...

* Maternal and

Newborn In common terminology, a baby is the very young offspring of adult human beings, while infant (from the Latin word ''infans'', meaning 'baby' or 'child') is a formal or specialised synonym. The terms may also be used to refer to Juvenile (orga ...

Health * Post-Natal Health Checks *

Contraception Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...

* Unmet Need * Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting * Attitudes Toward

Domestic Violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

* Victimization *

Marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

/ Union * Adult Functioning * Sexual Behaviour *

HIV/AIDS The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

Maternal Mortality Maternal death or maternal mortality is defined in slightly different ways by several different health organizations. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines maternal death as the death of a pregnant mother due to complications related to p ...

Tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...

and

Alcohol Alcohol may refer to: Common uses * Alcohol (chemistry), a class of compounds * Ethanol, one of several alcohols, commonly known as alcohol in everyday life ** Alcohol (drug), intoxicant found in alcoholic beverages ** Alcoholic beverage, an alco ...

Use *

Life Satisfaction Life satisfaction is an evaluation of a person's quality of life. It is assessed in terms of mood, relationship satisfaction, achieved goals, self-concepts, and the self-perceived ability to cope with life. Life satisfaction involves a favorabl ...

Questionnaire for Children Under Five * Under-five Child Information Panel * Under-Five's Background * Birth Registration *

Early Childhood Development Early childhood development is the period of rapid physical, psychological and social growth and change that begins before birth and extends into early childhood. While early childhood is not well defined, one source asserts that the early years b ...

Child Discipline Child discipline is the methods used to prevent future unwanted behaviour in children. The word ''discipline'' is defined as imparting knowledge and skill, in other words, to teach. In its most general sense, discipline refers to systematic ins ...

* Child Functioning *

Breastfeeding Breastfeeding, also known as nursing, is the process where breast milk is fed to a child. Infants may suck the milk directly from the breast, or milk may be extracted with a Breast pump, pump and then fed to the infant. The World Health Orga ...

and Dietary Intake * Immunisation *

Anthropometry Anthropometry (, ) refers to the measurement of the human individual. An early tool of biological anthropology, physical anthropology, it has been used for identification, for the purposes of understanding human physical variation, in paleoanthr ...

Individual Questionnaire for Men * Man's Information Panel * Man's Background * Access to

and Use of ICT *

Fertility Fertility in colloquial terms refers the ability to have offspring. In demographic contexts, fertility refers to the actual production of offspring, rather than the physical capability to reproduce, which is termed fecundity. The fertility rate ...

* Attitudes Toward

/ Union * Sexual Behaviour *

Circumcision Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...

and

Use *

Questionnaire for Children Age 5-17 * Child's Information Panel * Child's Background *

Child Labour Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...

* Child Functioning * Parental Involvement * Foundational Learning Skills

Other tools

The MICS package also includes data entry program (in CSPro) catering for tablet-based data collection on Android or Windows platforms, standard tabulation plan (in Excel) and syntax (in

SPSS SPSS Statistics is a statistical software suite developed by IBM for data management, advanced analytics, multivariate analysis, business intelligence, and criminal investigation. Long produced by SPSS Inc., it was acquired by IBM in 2009. Versi ...

), workshop training programmes, in-country capacity building and technical assistance, data dissemination templates, as well as various online resources. The tools are all compiled on the MICS website, which was launched in a modernised format in mid-2024.

Current status

The 6th round of MICS commenced in October 2016 with the initiation of the Programme's Survey Design Workshops and was scheduled to run to 2021 (this has since been extended to 2022, mainly due to COVID-19 related delays of face-to-face surveys). The content is expanded to cover new priorities, including adjustments to cover approximately half of the survey-based SDG indicators (about 40 of about 80). The 6th round's tools were piloted in Costa Rica in mid-2016, and was preceded by a field test of new or refined questionnaire modules and tools for data collection and processing in Belize end of 2015. In November 2017 additional questionnaire modules were tested in Malawi. A similar exercise was conducted in Belize in April 2019. The MICS Programme is participating in the methodological development of new data collection tools, such as on water quality testing, child disability, external economic support, and impact of emergencies. A methodological paper series was launched in 2012. The programme has been evaluated following rounds 1, 3, and 4.

Funding

The total cost for MICS3 was about $18.6 million (and about $356,000 per country) according to a 2008 MICS evaluation. MICS4 was estimated to cost $31.3 million.

Countries

The countries listed below have conducted (or plan to conduct) a MICS survey. Reports and data are available on the MICS website. X: National Survey S: Sub-national Survey Note: Only countries from UNICEF's official list are included. It appears that some surveys are based on the MICS tools, but not included in the list, e.g. Botswana 2007-08 Family Health Survey and Bangladesh 2009 Progotir Pathey (MICS). The total number of countries having ever conducted a MICS (or plan to do so) is 123. This includes Yugoslavia, which at the time of MICS1 and MICS2 was the territory now split into Kosovo, Montenegro, and Serbia. In MICS7, five countries are new to the programme: Armenia, The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), Guatemala, Morocco, and Saudi Arabia. The survey in FSM follows other Pacific nations joining the programme in MICS6: Fiji, Kiribati, Nauru, Samoa, Tonga, and Tuvalu, many of whom are also participating in the seventh round.

Use of survey data

Survey data are widely used, predominantly in multi-country analyses, but also often for simple trend analyses in single countries. An example of use of MICS data is provided by Monasch et al. (2004). Due to the near perfect comparability between MICS and DHS, much analysis draws on multiple data sets of both programmes. However, each survey programme have modules specific to their mandates and not often used in both programmes. For example, a recent compilation of evidence on child discipline makes use of surveys that included the Child Discipline Module; these were all MICS.UNICEF
Child Disciplinary Practices at Home: Evidence from a Range of Low- and Middle-Income Countries
, New York, 2010. Most global statistics, such as on the indicators of the MDGs rely heavily on data collected through MICS (and other household surveys), particularly for countries where administrative reporting systems are not entirely adequate. Other global statistics rely on only household survey data, such as the

Multidimensional Poverty Index Multidimensional Poverty Indices use a range of indicators (monetary, health, education and others) to calculate a summary poverty figure for a given population, in which a larger figure indicates a higher level of poverty. This figure considers b ...

developed by OPHI and reported by

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...

. Examples of recent publications are listed under external links.

References

External links

Recent examples of use of MICS data

* Takeuchi, LR (2015)
"Intra-household inequalities in child rights and wellbeing: a barrier to progress?"
ODI Development Progress, Research Report 02, March 2015 * Arabi, M., Frongillo, E. A., Avula, R. and Mangasaryan, N. (2012)
"Infant and Young Child Feeding in Developing Countries"
Child Development, 83: 32–45. * Sipsma ''et al.'' (2012)

Bull World Health Organ 2012;90:120–127F * Cappa, C. and Khan, SM (2011)
"Understanding caregivers’ attitudes towards physical punishment of children: Evidence from 34 low- and middle-income countries"
Child Abuse & Neglect. Volume 35, Issue 12, December 2011, Pages 1009–1021

Household survey programme websites

UNICEF Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS)

USAID Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS)

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WHO Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS)

Generations & Gender Programme (GGP)

* ttp://smartmethodology.org Standardized Monitoring and Assessment of Relief and Transitions (SMART)
World Values Survey (WVS)

Regional programmes

Arab League Pan-Arab Project for Family Health (PAPFAM)

EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC)

Networks

International Household Survey Network (IHSN)

The Inter-secretariat Group on Household Surveys (ISWGHS)