Exclusive breastfeeding (% of children under 6 months) - Country Ranking - Central America & the Caribbean

Definition: Exclusive breastfeeding refers to the percentage of children less than six months old who are fed breast milk alone (no other liquids) in the past 24 hours.

Source: UNICEF, State of the World's Children, Childinfo, and Demographic and Health Surveys.

See also: Thematic map, Time series comparison

Find indicator:
Rank Country Value Year
1 St. Kitts and Nevis 55.60 1998
2 Guatemala 53.20 2015
3 El Salvador 46.70 2014
4 Haiti 39.90 2017
5 Grenada 39.00 1998
6 Belize 33.20 2016
7 Cuba 32.80 2014
8 Costa Rica 32.50 2011
9 Nicaragua 31.70 2012
10 Honduras 30.70 2012
11 Jamaica 23.80 2011
12 Panama 21.50 2013
12 Trinidad and Tobago 21.50 2011
14 Barbados 19.70 2012
15 Dominican Republic 4.60 2014
16 St. Lucia 3.50 2012

More rankings: Africa | Asia | Central America & the Caribbean | Europe | Middle East | North America | Oceania | South America | World |

Development Relevance: For optimal infant and young child feeding, mothers initiate breastfeeding within one hour of birth, breastfeed exclusively for the first six months, and continue to breastfeed for two years or more while providing nutritionally adequate, safe, and age-appropriate solid, semisolid, and soft foods. Breast milk alone contains all the nutrients, antibodies, hormones, and antioxidants an infant needs to thrive. It protects babies from diarrhea and acute respiratory infections, stimulates their immune systems and response to vaccination, and may confer cognitive benefits.

Limitations and Exceptions: Most of the data on breastfeeding are derived from household surveys. For the data that are from household surveys, the year refers to the survey year.

Aggregation method: Weighted average

Periodicity: Annual