8% of Dominican children under five are overweight, according to UNICEF

Santo Domingo.- UNICEF reports that 8% of children under five in the Dominican Republic are overweight, according to data from the 2019 ENHOGAR MICS Survey, highlighted in its 2024 report Status of the Situation of the Rights of Children and Adolescents in the Dominican Republic.

The report also notes the low rates of exclusive breastfeeding, a critical factor for early nutrition and disease prevention. Only 16% of infants are exclusively breastfed for the first six months—17% in urban areas and 13% in rural regions. While this is an improvement from 4.7% in 2014, UNICEF warns it remains insufficient to ensure healthy early development.

Globally, one in ten children—188 million—live with obesity, exposing them to serious, sometimes fatal diseases. In Latin America and the Caribbean, childhood overweight prevalence has risen by at least 10 percentage points since 2000, making the issue particularly urgent in the region.