Getting a-breast of the data

August 7 saw the conclusion of World Breastfeeding Week, jointly organised by World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF, aimed to raise awareness to the huge health benefits of breastmilk for babies.

First celebrated in 1992, the annual event is formally celebrated by 120 countries. More than just an opportunity to generate publicity, WHO has a target of increasing exclusive breastfeeding to babies up to 6 months old to 50% by 2025.

According to the latest data, this could well be achieved. In the last 12 years, the number of infants under 6 months who are exclusively breastfed has increased 10%, hitting approximately 48% of the world’s population. This it truly a positive story.

However, given the importance of the subject, Flare was keen to find out which countries are more at risk of failing to hit the 50% target.

Global data on breastfeeding is limited, dated and sporadic, so benchmarking is far from a perfect reflection of what may be happening on the ground today. However, sitting in the bottom ten of nations when it comes to breastfeeding levels are two of the most populous nations on earth: US and China.

So, what are driving these low numbers? We decided to look deeper in the US numbers where the US Department of Health and Human Services keeps very rich demographic data on rates of breastfeeding.

In short, while he overall take up levels are low, there are clear differences when measuring against ethnicity, age, educational background, and wealth.

For example, only one in four non-Hispanic Black mothers are likely to exclusively breastfeed through to six months. This compares to 30% of non-Hispanic Asians.

The older you are when you bear a child, the higher the chance you will breastfeed exclusively; 28% of over 30s confirmed they did to six months compared to 25.2% of those aged between 20 and 29.

A married mother is also 50% more likely to breastfeed exclusively than single mothers. Those higher on the poverty income ration are also far less likely to do so (23.4%) compared the wealthiest (30.2%).

And as the graph below shows clearly, college graduates are far more likely to breastfeed than those who left school without any formal qualifications.

However, whatever way you slice the US data, the story from the world’s wealthiest nation is a poor one. People in America just don’t seem all that bothered to breastfeed exclusively.