Mexico's National Care System (Sistema Nacional y Progresivo de Cuidados) — Mapping 118,600+ Care Centres via SIDECU

In Mexico, women perform on average more than double the unpaid care hours of men (ENASIC 2022 data), a burden estimated at 26.3% of GDP if remunerated, and three out of four caregivers nationally are women.

Building on a 2022 pilot in Mexico City and a January 2025 national rollout, the federal government launched the Sistema Nacional y Progresivo de Cuidados (SNPC) to redistribute this work between the state, families, the market and society. In October 2025, coinciding with International Care Day, the Secretaria de las Mujeres and the national DIF system launched the Sistema de Informacion de Cuidados (SIDECU), a geolocated public platform mapping existing public childcare, elder-care and disability-care centres nationwide, and announced Annex 31 of the 2026 federal budget earmarked for care services.

SIDECU mapped 118,618 existing public care centres nationwide, and Annex 31 of the 2026 federal budget earmarked 466,675 million pesos (about 1.2% of estimated GDP) for care services.

The system remains at an early, largely infrastructure-mapping and budget-institutionalisation stage: no independent impact evaluation of employment or wellbeing outcomes has yet been published, and a companion CDMX-level Care Law was only approved by the Mexico City Congress in May 2026, with implementation still pending.