The Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) has launched the Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) in Yemen, a comprehensive set of household data to assess the living conditions of women, girls and boys to inform policies, programmes and national and international development plans.

The internationally comparable survey supported by UNICEF gauges the progress in areas critical to human development, including health, nutrition, education, and water and sanitation. It showed a marginal improvement in many areas over the last decade — a sign that humanitarian assistance helped maintain the service delivery system and continued to sustain the livelihoods of people despite eight years of conflict that devastated the economy and shattered the social system.

“Quality data is vital for effective planning and prioritization to strengthen humanitarian, peace, recovery and development efforts. The MICS will serve as the critical measurement to assess the progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals while promoting the social inclusion of the most vulnerable people,” said Peter Hawkins, UNICEF Representative to Yemen.

The survey showed a slight improvement in child mortality, with the infant mortality rate dropping from 39 to 35 per 1,000 and the under-five mortality rate declining from 44 to 41 per 1,000. This may be attributable to a modest improvement in the area of maternal and newborn health services including antenatal care provided by skilled health workers and deliveries conducted by skilled attendants.

However, child nutrition and household food insecurity remained a major area of concern with 49 per cent of under-five children stunted, or chronically malnourished and 17 per cent of children wasted, or acutely malnourished. Seventy-five per cent of the household population experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months.

With the conflict disrupting education, one out of every four children (25 per cent) of basic school age and more than half of children (53 per cent) of upper secondary school age are out of school. Only half of children of school-entry age are enrolled in the first grade of primary school. The school completion rate stood at 53 per cent for basic education and 37 per cent for upper secondary school.

Although the survey indicated improved access to drinking water and sanitation services, only 6 out of 10 household members have drinking water available in sufficient quantities and only 4 out of 10 household members have access to water sources within their premises.

In the area of protection, only 29 per cent of children under the age of 5 have their births registered with the civil authorities, and 16 per cent of children aged 5-17 years are involved in child labour.

UNICEF provided technical support to the MICS survey that covered around 20,000 households. Conducted between July 2022 and May 2023, it is the largest single data source for generating statistical information on women, girls and boys at the sub-national and rural/urban levels, for the 22 governorates in Yemen.

The teams of specially trained female enumerators traveled across the country to interview household heads, women, children (under five and 5-17 years) using four different questionnaires. As part of the process, a series of trainings were conducted for the CSO staff to strengthen the institutional capacity of the statistical organisation.