Chapter 3 Additional World Health Assembly nutrition indicators
3.2 Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding during the first six months of life
Exclusive breastfeeding has the single most significant potential impact on child mortality of any preventive intervention. It is a cornerstone of child survival and child health because it provides essential, irreplaceable nutrition for a child’s growth and development. Furthermore, it serves as a child’s first immunization and has a protective effect against obesity and certain non-communicable diseases later in life (WHO and UNICEF, 2019).
FIGURE 19.
Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0–5 months of age in the Arab States by country income group
The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0–5 months of age in Arab States in 2023 (32.9 percent) was very far from the WHA 2030 target of increasing the rate of exclusive breastfeeding in the first 6 months up to at least 60 percent by 2030 (WHO, 2025) and was well below the global estimate (47.8 percent) (Figure 19, Table 12). In addition, it decreased in the region from 2012 (from 34.8 percent). The prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0–5 months of age was the highest in lower-middle-income countries (36.6 percent) and the lowest in upper-middle-income countries (27.0 percent) in 2023.
TABLE 12.
Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0–5 months of age (percent)
Among countries in the region, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0–5 months of age in 2023 was high in the Sudan (54.6 percent), Mauritania (40.9 percent) and Egypt (40.2 percent), and it was lower in Yemen (9.7 percent), Djibouti (12.4) and Tunisia (13.5 percent) (Figure 20).
FIGURE 20.
Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding among infants 0–5 months of age in the Arab States by country income group and country (latest year available)
