We assessed the efficiency of the Mini Cognitive Examination (MCE) for detecting dementia and studied the influence of certain variables (age, sex, education) on its global rating. The study was carried out on a rural population in two stages: the MCE was administered in the first stage, whilst the Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly (CAMDEX) was given in the second. The sensitivity of the MCE was 93.5% and specificity was 82%. Multivariate statistical analysis showed that the age, sex and education all had significant impacts on the MCE global rating. Out of 13 MCE items, only nine (temporal orientation, spatial orientation, calculation, repetition of a sentence, inverting the order of 3 numbers, sequence of praxic orders, abstraction and naming of objects) discriminated between subjects with dementia and controls. The MCE proved to be a highly efficient screening instrument for dementia.