In this paper we use calendar data from the 2000 Egyptian Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) to assess the determinants of birth interval length among women who are in union. We make use of the well-known model of the proximate determinants of fertility, and take advantage of the fact that the DHS calendar data provide month-bymonth data on contraceptive use, breastfeeding and post-partum amen...

This article proposes sparse and easy-to-interpret proximate factors to approximate statistical latent factors. Latent in a large-dimensional factor model can be estimated by principal component analysis (PCA), but are usually hard interpret. We obtain that easier interpret shrinking the PCA weights setting them zero except for largest absolute ones. show constructed with only 5%–10% of data su...

BACKGROUND Infant mortality reflects not only the health of infants but societal well-being as a whole. This study explores distal socioeconomic and related proximate determinants of infant mortality and provides evidence for designing targeted interventions. METHODS Survival information on 5391 live born infants (2006-2010) was examined from the nationally representative Nepal Demographic He...