UNICEF · Early Initiation of Breastfeeding
Early initiation of breastfeeding by country
What share of newborns are breastfed within an hour of birth?
Turkmenistan placed first of the 120 countries compared in the 2024 edition, at 93.000%, and Serbia last, at 7.749%. In the middle country the figure was 53.092%. 16 readings from before 2014 are listed but not compared.
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Part ofHealth & Wellbeing
Early initiation of breastfeeding · the 2024 edition
Context statistic
Highest of 120Turkmenistan
93.000%01the 2024 edition · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 120 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Rastapopulous · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
2
3Photo: Tequendamia · CC0, greyscale
Lowest in the 2024 edition
- 136
Serbia7.749% - 135
North Macedonia9.505% - 134
Azerbaijan13.717%
Positions out of 136. Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Highest on each continent
- Africa
Burundi89.300% - Americas
Bolivia79.475% - AsiaTurkmenistan93.000%
- Europe
Albania56.522% - Oceania
Solomon Islands78.900% - Every region
02Every measured country
Early initiation of breastfeeding on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a higher value — the better end.
- 7.749–36.934%
- 38.136–48.315%
- 48.323–58.200%
- 58.800–68.254%
- 68.528–93.000%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2014, listed but not compared (16)
- No reading in the 2024 edition
- Oceania
56.830%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 21 members
Solomon Islands78.900%
Tonga38.470%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Africa
55.535%
the middle country, of 47 measured · 55 members
Burundi89.300%
Comoros16.778%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Americas
52.350%
the middle country, of 22 measured · 48 members
Bolivia79.475%
El Salvador34.400%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Asia
50.852%
the middle country, of 36 measured · 52 members
Turkmenistan93.000%Azerbaijan13.717%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Europe
23.552%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 49 members
Albania56.522%Serbia7.749%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Every region
18 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Central Asia
73.217%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Turkmenistan93.000%
Uzbekistan40.299%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Eastern Africa
68.000%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 19 members
Burundi89.300%Comoros16.778%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- South America
54.820%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 12 members
Bolivia79.475%
Guyana46.043%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Southern Asia
54.616%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Sri Lanka90.700%
Pakistan19.560%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- South-eastern Asia
53.996%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 11 members
Myanmar66.764%
Vietnam23.451%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Central America
52.924%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 8 members
Belize68.254%El Salvador34.400%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Middle Africa
50.793%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
Gabon70.333%
Republic of the Congo25.274%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Caribbean
48.315%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 24 members
Cuba64.113%
Dominican Republic41.581%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Western Africa
47.327%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Sierra Leone88.367%
Benin25.139%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- Western Asia
40.568%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 19 members
Oman82.000%Azerbaijan13.717%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Northern Africa
33.585%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 6 members
Sudan68.717%
Libya28.800%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Eastern Asia
2 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Mongolia, North Korea.
Mongolia71.900%
North Korea42.500%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Eastern Europe
1 of 10 measured — too few for a middle: Belarus.
Belarus23.552%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Europe.
- Melanesia
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu.
Solomon Islands78.900%
Papua New Guinea54.834%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru.
Nauru69.737%
Kiribati45.599%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Polynesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu.
Samoa52.977%Tonga38.470%Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
- Southern Africa
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa.
South Africa67.232%
Eswatini46.672%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Europe
4 of 17 measured — too few for a middle: Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia.
Albania56.522%Serbia7.749%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
03The whole field at once
The spread
120 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 53.092%; a quarter are above 66.555%, and a quarter below 40.871%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 136 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first. “=” marks a position shared with another country. UNICEF ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. This is a practice around the moment of birth, and it does not follow a country's wealth: several upper-middle-income countries sit near the bottom. Survey rounds can disagree sharply, so a single reading should be read with care.
Showing 25 of 136 countries
Values for the 2024 edition.
05In this edition
Early initiation of breastfeeding in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
93.000%
Newborns put to the breast within one hour of birth (%)
Lowest reading
7.749%
Newborns put to the breast within one hour of birth (%)
06The measure
About early initiation of breastfeeding
This is the share of newborns who were put to the breast within the first hour after birth. WHO and UNICEF recommend it for every baby: the first milk protects against infection, and an early start makes it more likely that breastfeeding continues.
What the number is: Newborns put to the breast within one hour of birth (%).
07Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Health & Wellbeing, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where early initiation of breastfeeding is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Exclusive Breastfeeding Under Six MonthsUNICEF · 115 countries in commonρ 0.41
Moves against
Where early initiation of breastfeeding is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 312 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
08Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
The data, edition by edition
The countries at either end
More from UNICEF
09Questions
Early initiation of breastfeeding: questions and answers
Which country has the highest early initiation of breastfeeding?
Turkmenistan, at 93.000%, among the 120 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
Which country has the lowest early initiation of breastfeeding?
Serbia, at 7.749%, among the 120 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
How many countries does the Early Initiation of Breastfeeding cover?
120 in the 2024 edition, and 136 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average early initiation of breastfeeding?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 120 compared in the 2024 edition, the figure was 53.092%.
Is this UNICEF’s own ranking?
No. UNICEF publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Early Initiation of Breastfeeding published?
This site holds one edition, describing 2024.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From UNICEF, under CC BY 3.0 IGO. From UNICEF's Global Infant and Young Child Feeding Databases, read from UNICEF's own data warehouse, which carries more decimal places than UNICEF's published workbooks. Each reading is marked as re-analysed by UNICEF or as reported by the survey itself. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
10Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Early Initiation of Breastfeeding — UNICEF
From UNICEF's Global Infant and Young Child Feeding Databases, read from UNICEF's own data warehouse, which carries more decimal places than UNICEF's published workbooks. Each reading is marked as re-analysed by UNICEF or as reported by the survey itself.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: UNICEF. Global Infant and Young Child Feeding Databases, December 2025. New York: UNICEF.
Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO, checked 2026-10-03.
How this page reads the numbers
- UNICEF ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- The file gives each country’s most recent reading, so the rows are from different years. Readings from before 2014 are listed but left out of every comparison on this page.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Turkmenistan — Rastapopulous, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Sri Lanka — Løken, CC0
- Burundi — Tequendamia, CC0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Early initiation of breastfeeding by country: Early Initiation of Breastfeeding, data from UNICEF. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/early-breastfeeding