Data on the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of infants for their first six months of life are not available for the ECA region and most of its subregions. The exceptions are Central Asia (32.7 percent), the “Other” subgroup (Andorra, Israel and Türkiye) (40.7 percent) and the Western Balkans (27.0 percent), all below the global prevalence of 48 percent in 2022 (FIGURE 17). The ECA subregions of Central Asia and the Western Balkans made progress in exclusive breastfeeding from 2012 to 2022, in line with the global trend. In contrast, the prevalence declined slightly in the “Other” subgroup.
FIGURE 18 compares the levels of the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding of infants under six months of age in ECA countries between the first and last years for which data are available. The years differ from country to country. The prevalence increased in most countries with available data, though it did decline in the Republic of Moldova. The largest increase occurred in Turkmenistan (from 12.1 percent in 2000 to 56.5 percent in 2019), which also has the highest prevalence in the ECA region. Azerbaijan had the lowest prevalence (12.1 percent), although the estimate is from more than ten years ago.