Whereas child mortality has been decreased globally in the last 20 years, high levels persist in Sub-Saharan Africa. This paper analyzes child mortality in 25 Sub-Saharan countries based on household survey data. We employ a new multilevel approach with structured additive predictor within the...

Models with structured additive predictor provide a very broad and rich framework for complex regression modeling. They can deal simultaneously with nonlinear covariate effects and time trends, unit- or cluster-specific heterogeneity, spatial heterogeneity and complex interactions between...