Infant and young child feeding

Key facts

• Every infant and child has the right to good nutrition according to the "Convention on the Rights of the Child".
• Undernutrition is associated with 45% of child deaths.
• Globally in 2022, 149 million children under 5 were estimated to be stunted (too short for age), 45 million were estimated to be wasted (too thin for height), and 37 million were overweight or obese.
• About 44% of infants 0–6 months old are exclusively breastfed.
• Few children receive nutritionally adequate and safe complementary foods; in many countries less than a fourth of infants 6–23 months of age meet the criteria of dietary diversity and feeding frequency that are appropriate for their age.
• Over 820 000 children's lives could be saved every year among children under 5 years, if all children 0–23 months were optimally breastfed. Breastfeeding improves IQ, school attendance, and is associated with higher income in adult life. (1)
• Improving child development and reducing health costs through breastfeeding results in economic gains for individual families as well as at the national level.

Information presented on this page has been replicated from the linked WHO fact sheet. Please always refer to the original source on who.int for the latest version. Last update: March 2024