In 1998, UNICEF embarked on a process of helping countries assess progress for children at end-decade in relation to the World Summit for Children goals (New York, 1990).
The list of global indicators being used to assess progress at end-decade was developed through extensive consultation, both within UNICEF, particularly with Programme Division and the Regional Offices, and with WHO, UNESCO and the ILO. The global indicator list can be found in Annex 1 of the Executive Directive EXD/1999-03 dated 23 April 1999.
Mid decade experience
There are numerous sources of data for measuring progress at country level, but many either do not function well enough to give current and quality data, or do not provide the data required for assessing progress. Household surveys are capable of filling many of these data gaps. The mid-decade assessment led to 100 countries collecting data using the Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS), household surveys developed to obtain specific mid-decade data, or via MICS questionnaire modules carried by other surveys. By 1996, 60 developing countries had carried out stand-alone MICS, and another 40 had incorporated some of the MICS modules into other surveys. The mid-decade questionnaire and manual, the countries where a standalone MICS was implemented.
The end-decade assessment
The end-decade MICS questionnaire and manual have been developed specifically to obtain the data for 63 of the 75 end-decade indicators. These draw heavily on experiences with the mid-decade MICS and the subsequent MICS evaluation. The content is organized into question modules, for countries to adopt or omit according to the data already available. The development of the end-decade MICS questionnaire and manual has drawn on an even wider spread of organizations than the mid-decade MICS. They include WHO, UNESCO, ILO, UNAIDS, the United Nations Statistical Division, CDC Atlanta, MEASURE (USAID), Johns Hopkins University, Columbia University, the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and others.
Kind of Data
Sample survey data [ssd]
Unit of Analysis
Data downloaded from MICS2 website (www.childinfo.org) on May 24, 2011
The scope of Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey 2001 includes:
- HOUSEHOLD: Household listing, Education, Child labour, Water and sanitation, Salt iodization
- CHILDREN UNDER 5: Birth registration and early learning, Vitamin A, Breastfeeding, Care of illness, Malaria, Immunization, Anthropometry
- WOMEN: Child mortality, Tetanus toxoid (TT), Maternal and new born health, Contraceptive use, HIV/AIDS
Only secured territory (territory that was regarded as secure by the Government)
Producers and sponsors
National Statistics Office (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica - INE)
United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), Division of Evaluation, Policy and Planning, Programme Division
Design of survey and technical support
United Nations Children Fund
Dates of Data Collection
Data Collection Mode
On Angola, the sample results doesn't represent the nation as a whole. This is because samples cannot represent areas that are excluded from the frame (i.e., not covered by the survey operations), especially if those areas comprise 35% of the country as was the case in Angola.
You may of course combine the urban and rural components together for a "total" but it has to be labelled properly (see below).
In putting out the results a statement such as the following should accompany the tables: "The survey estimates do not represent Angola as a whole because the sample was restricted to territory that was regarded as secure by the Government. That territory comprised only about 65 percent of the population. An important point to note is that most of the secured territory in Angola is urban, while most of the unsecured territory is rural. For this reason the sample is disproportionately larger in urban communities.
However, since most of the urban community in Angola is secure, the urban part of the sample is a fairly accurate representation of all of urban Angola. By contrast, the rural sample only represents the rural secured territory; since a large proportion of rural Angola was not covered by the survey sample, it is not expected that the rural results would reflect rural Angola as well as the urban results reflect urban Angola.
The totals, that is, urban and rural combined, represent what can be described as Angola-Secured Territory but not the nation as a whole.
We advice users to keep these points in mind when analyzing the data.
Dataset available free of charge to registered users (www.childinfo.org).
MICS2 has put greater efforts in not only properly documenting the results published in the MICS2 country reports, but also to maximize the use of micro data sets via documentation and dissemination. For those MICS2 countries that granted UNICEF direct access to the micro data sets and documentation, a rigorous process was completed to ensure internal and external consistency, basic standards of data quality, corresponding documentation and, standardization of variable and value labels across countries.
Use of the dataset must be acknowledged using a citation which would include:
- the Identification of the Primary Investigator
- the title of the survey (including country, acronym and year of implementation)
- the survey reference number
- the source and date of download
Instituto Nacional de Estatistica. Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) 2001. Ref. AGO_2001_MICS_v01_M. Dataset downloaded from http://www.childinfo.org on [date].
United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF)
Disclaimer and copyrights
The user of the data acknowledges that the original collector of the data, the authorized distributor of the data, and the relevant funding agency bear no responsibility for use of the data or for interpretations or inferences based upon such uses.
DDI Document ID
Date of Metadata Production
DDI Document version
Version 1.0 - Prepared by IHSN/World Bank Microdata Library
* Study description incomplete - More information available in the report (Portuguese).