Mexico’s Child Well-Being Drops Post-Pandemic: UNICEF

Mexico ranks 34th out of 43 countries in child well-being following the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new UNICEF report that identifies prolonged school closures, climate disruptions, and deteriorating mental health as key contributing factors.

The report highlights that Mexico experienced 81 weeks of school closures — one of the longest durations worldwide — leading to significant declines in learning outcomes in reading, writing, and math. The educational setbacks are compounded by climate-related disruptions, which affected over 13 million students and displaced 250,000 children. These compounding crises have had lasting effects on academic progress and emotional development.

Most recently, children in Mexico were impacted by a strike led by the National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE), which shut down nearly 20,000 schools and left 1.2 million students without classes. According to Mexicanos Primero, this disruption underscores the broader crisis facing the country’s public education system. 

In Coahuila, 40% of basic-level public schools have modified their schedules due to extreme heat, raising concerns about the resilience of school infrastructure amid worsening climate conditions, reports Mexicanos Primero. Meanwhile, in Puebla, public school enrollment has declined by 5.6% over the past decade, despite a 3.9% increase in the number of teachers.

In the report, UNICEF also identifies growing challenges in youth mental health and emotional well-being. Mexican adolescents report some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction worldwide, ranking 34th out of 36 countries, alongside notable declines in empathy, social skills, and family communication.

Other rising risks include disordered eating — now affecting as many as one in four teenagers — as well as chronic health issues. Recent data from Mexico’s Ministry of Health unveils that 39% of Mexican children are overweight or obese and 38% are living with diabetes, with delayed diagnoses often attributed to cultural norms and insufficient health education, writes MBN. 

UNICEF’s findings are echoed by data from Fundación en Movimiento, a Mexican nonprofit that recently published the country’s first national survey on bullying related to physical appearance. Conducted from late 2023 to 2024 across eight states, the study found that 28.6% of secondary and high school students reported being bullied for traits such as body weight, skin color, or perceived sexual identity. In 60.9% of cases, the harassment took place in the classroom. One in five students affected said they had stopped attending school as a result.

Fundación en Movimiento introduced the Método FEM, a school-based model designed to improve emotional education and institutional responses to bullying. After implementation, the proportion of teachers who felt equipped to address bullying rose from 35.7% to 57.9%. More than 37,000 students participated in the program in 2024.

While the Mexican government has adopted measures such as banning junk food in schools, rolling out digital tools like Mi Escuela Saludable, and promoting physical activity and mental health, UNICEF emphasizes the need for a more integrated strategy. Demographic shifts, urbanization, and digital inequality continue to shape the educational landscape, with many students still lacking reliable connectivity despite increasing exposure to online risks.