*Article* **Small Area Estimation of Zone-Level Malnutrition among Children under Five in Ethiopia**

**Kindie Fentahun Muchie 1,2,\*, Anthony Kibira Wanjoya <sup>3</sup> and Samuel Musili Mwalili <sup>3</sup>**


**\*** Correspondence: muchie.kindie@students.jkuat.ac.ke

**Abstract:** Child undernutrition is one of the 10 most significant public health problems worldwide. There is a rapidly growing demand to produce reliable estimates at the micro administrative level with small sample sizes. In this research, the authors employed small area estimation techniques to estimate the prevalence of malnutrition at the zonal level among children under five in Ethiopia. The small area estimation concept was sought for by linking the most recent possible survey data and census data in Ethiopia. The results show that there is spatial variation of stunting, wasting and being underweight across the zone level, showing different locations facing different challenges or different extents.

**Keywords:** undernutrition; prevalence; hierarchical Bayesian; spatial analysis; small area estimation; Markov chain Monte Carlo
