Prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding and barriers for its continuation up to six months in Kandy district, Sri Lanka

Table 1 Distribution of the study sample by sociodemographic characteristics (n = 354)

Sociodemographic characteristics	n		%
Age category
≤ 19 years	11		3.1
20–34 years	268		75.7
≥ 35 years	75		21.2
Ethnicity
Sinhalese^a	237		66.9
Muslim ^b	72		20.3
Tamil ^b	44		12.4
Malay ^b	1		0.3
Education level
Up to grade five ^c	2		0.6
Up to Ordinary Level ^c	153		43.2
Up to Advanced Level ^d	172		48.6
Degree/ Post graduate ^d	27		7.6
Occupation	Individual data (n)	Pooled data (n)	Individual data (%)	Pooled data (%)
Not employed ^e	291	301	82.2	84.5
Self-employed ^e	10	301	2.3	84.5
Teacher ^f	13	53	3.7	15.5
Clerical ^f	27		2.8
Labourer ^f	8		7.6
Executive ^f	5		1.4
Household Income
≤ 2 5000	127		35.9
25,001-50,000	131		37
≥ 50,001	96		27.1
Birth order of the child
First	124		35
^gSecond	128		36.2
^gThird	83		23.4
^gFourth	19		5.4
Total	354		100

In further analysis data were combined as follows
^aSinhalese, ^bOther, ^cUp to grade 11 or less, ^dAbove grade 11, ^eUnemployed, ^fEmployed & ^gBirth order second or above

ISSN: 1746-4358