UNICEF · Exclusive Breastfeeding Under Six Months
Exclusive breastfeeding by country
What share of babies under six months are fed only breast milk?
Burundi placed first of the 118 countries compared in the 2024 edition, at 83.300%, and Chad last, at 7.353%. In the middle country the figure was 42.985%. 18 readings from before 2014 are listed but not compared.
Share
Exclusive breastfeeding · the 2024 edition
Context statistic
Highest of 118Burundi
83.300%01the 2024 edition · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the highest end of 118 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Tequendamia · CC0, greyscale
2
3Photo: Peace Batuma · CC BY-SA 4.0, greyscale
Lowest in the 2024 edition
- 134
Chad7.353% - 132
Suriname8.916% - 128
Dominican Republic15.844%
Positions out of 136. Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
02Every measured country
Exclusive 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.
- 7.353–28.632%
- 28.778–39.875%
- 40.200–50.294%
- 50.319–58.814%
- 59.349–83.300%
- Hatched: a reading from before 2014, listed but not compared (18)
- No reading in the 2024 edition
- Oceania
52.259%
the middle country, of 10 measured · 21 members
Solomon Islands76.200%
Tonga39.575%Highest and lowest reading in Oceania.
- Asia
45.375%
the middle country, of 37 measured · 52 members
Sri Lanka80.929%
Azerbaijan18.420%Highest and lowest reading in Asia.
- Africa
44.323%
the middle country, of 46 measured · 55 members
Burundi83.300%Chad7.353%Highest and lowest reading in Africa.
- Americas
34.081%
the middle country, of 20 measured · 48 members
Peru70.087%Suriname8.916%Highest and lowest reading in Americas.
- Europe
23.632%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 49 members
Albania36.539%
Montenegro19.517%Highest and lowest reading in Europe.
- Every region
19 sub-regions, highest middle country first
- Southern Asia
63.033%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 9 members
Sri Lanka80.929%
Iran47.400%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Asia.
- Eastern Africa
59.712%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 19 members
Burundi83.300%
Comoros22.573%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Africa.
- South-eastern Asia
50.294%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 11 members
Timor-Leste64.975%
Thailand28.575%Highest and lowest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Western Africa
44.323%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 16 members
Togo64.330%
Niger24.507%Highest and lowest reading in Western Africa.
- South America
41.237%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 12 members
Peru70.087%Suriname8.916%Highest and lowest reading in South America.
- Central Asia
40.785%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 5 members
Turkmenistan56.477%
Uzbekistan25.204%Highest and lowest reading in Central Asia.
- Northern Africa
35.000%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 6 members
Sudan54.595%
Tunisia17.817%Highest and lowest reading in Northern Africa.
- Middle Africa
34.504%
the middle country, of 8 measured · 9 members
São Tomé and Príncipe63.055%Chad7.353%Highest and lowest reading in Middle Africa.
- Central America
34.081%
the middle country, of 6 measured · 8 members
Guatemala58.500%
Costa Rica25.289%Highest and lowest reading in Central America.
- Caribbean
32.993%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 24 members
Cuba40.553%Dominican Republic15.844%Highest and lowest reading in Caribbean.
- Western Asia
25.822%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 19 members
Qatar45.375%Azerbaijan18.420%Highest and lowest reading in Western Asia.
- Eastern Asia
3 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: China, Mongolia, North Korea.
North Korea71.400%
China35.100%Highest and lowest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Eastern Europe
1 of 10 measured — too few for a middle: Belarus.
Belarus21.704%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 Islands76.200%
Fiji42.853%Highest and lowest reading in Melanesia.
- Micronesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Nauru.
Kiribati63.585%
Marshall Islands43.117%Highest and lowest reading in Micronesia.
- Northern America
1 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: United States.
United States25.799%Highest and lowest reading in Northern America.
- Polynesia
3 of 7 measured — too few for a middle: Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu.
Samoa51.740%Tonga39.575%Highest and lowest reading in Polynesia.
- Southern Africa
4 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, South Africa.
Lesotho60.744%
Botswana29.994%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Europe
4 of 17 measured — too few for a middle: Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia.
Albania36.539%Montenegro19.517%Highest and lowest reading in Southern Europe.
03The whole field at once
The spread
118 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 42.985%; a quarter are above 55.070%, and a quarter below 31.886%. 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. Every figure here is an overestimate of true exclusive breastfeeding, and deliberately so: the standard method asks mothers about the previous 24 hours, so an infant given water last week is still counted. The bias is the same everywhere, which keeps countries comparable.
Showing 25 of 136 countries
Values for the 2024 edition.
05In this edition
Exclusive breastfeeding in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading
83.300%
Infants under 6 months exclusively breastfed (%)
Lowest reading
7.353%
Infants under 6 months exclusively breastfed (%)
06The measure
About exclusive breastfeeding
This is the share of babies under six months old who are fed only breast milk — no water, formula or other food. The World Health Organization recommends it for the first six months, so unlike most infant-feeding statistics this one has a stated standard to measure against.
What the number is: Infants under 6 months exclusively breastfed (%).
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 and Development & Human Capital, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Health & WellbeingDevelopment & Human CapitalWhich statistics vote, and why
Moves with
Where exclusive breastfeeding is higher, these tend to be higher too.
- Stunting Prevalence in Children Under FiveKeyUNICEF, WHO and World Bank Group (Joint Malnutrition Estimates) · 112 countries in commonρ 0.46
- Women Who Think a Husband Is Justified in Hitting or Beating His WifeUNICEF · 102 countries in commonρ 0.46
- Employment in AgricultureILO · 111 countries in commonρ 0.45
Moves against
Where exclusive breastfeeding is higher, these tend to be lower.
- Labour Productivity per Hour WorkedILO · 111 countries in commonρ −0.48
- GDP per Person EmployedWorld Bank Group · 107 countries in commonρ −0.47
- Historical GDP per Capita (Maddison)GGDC · 101 countries in commonρ −0.46
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 310 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
08Keep reading
Explore further
The data, edition by edition
09Questions
Exclusive breastfeeding: questions and answers
Which country has the highest exclusive breastfeeding?
Burundi, at 83.300%, among the 118 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
Which country has the lowest exclusive breastfeeding?
Chad, at 7.353%, among the 118 countries compared in the 2024 edition.
How many countries does the Exclusive Breastfeeding Under Six Months cover?
118 in the 2024 edition, and 136 at least once across all editions.
What is the world average exclusive breastfeeding?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 118 compared in the 2024 edition, the figure was 42.985%.
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 Exclusive Breastfeeding Under Six Months 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. Read from UNICEF's own data warehouse (NT_BF_EXBF). 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
Exclusive Breastfeeding Under Six Months — UNICEF
Read from UNICEF's own data warehouse (NT_BF_EXBF).
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year not recorded
Cite the source as: UNICEF. UNICEF Data Warehouse. New York: UNICEF.
Licence: CC BY 3.0 IGO, checked 2026-09-10.
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.
- Burundi — Tequendamia, CC0
- Sri Lanka — Løken, CC0
- Rwanda — Peace Batuma, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Exclusive breastfeeding by country: Exclusive Breastfeeding Under Six Months, data from UNICEF. https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/exclusive-breastfeeding