China Is the Global Market for Infant Formula

China is the biggest market worldwide for baby milk and infant formula. In 2024, Statista Market Insights estimates that sales will reach almost $17 billion in the country. The second biggest market, the United States, is far behind at just $6.2 billion. However, per-capita spending was higher in the U.S. and actually lowest in China out of the top 5 biggest markets. Numbers by UNICEF show that the use of formula is more widespread in more developed countries and has also become typical in China's burgeoning middle class, while it hasn't caught on everywhere in the nation - explaining the lower per-capita spending. Like in other nations, families in China are subject to aggressive baby formula marketing and urban Chinese women were found to have the highest exposure to respective advertising messages in a recent survey. Due to its high price, the global market for baby formula is large at almost $54 billion.

The above survey also names Vietnam as a country saturated with such marketing. It was identified as the fifth biggest formula market by Statista, while another Asian nation, Indonesia, came in rank 3. Out of the top 5, Vietnam exhibited the highest estimated per-capita spending on infant formula given that estimates say only 17 percent of babies there are exclusively breastfed for the first six months of their lives. Overall, bottle feeding ratios were lower in East Asia and the Pacific than in Eastern Europe, North America or the Middle East, but higher than in South Asia, Eastern Africa or the world average, according to UNICEF.