Introduction
The recent years have seen a multitude of problems afflicting the world, including the Covid-19 pandemic, wars, and changes in the social and economic structures that continue to shape the cultural, social and economic landscape globally. However, the situation could potentially worsen. What if a new epidemic arises that turns people into zombies, or a war breaks out between the living and the dead? To determine the safest place in Germany in case of a hypothetical zombie apocalypse, we analysed various factors across five categories: Vulnerability, Hideouts, Supplies, Safety and Mobility. Based on our findings, we have identified the safest place in Germany. Whether you live in Berlin, Hamburg, München or Cologne - we’ve got you covered. Therefore, if you do not reside in the safest city, it may be wise to consider relocation in the event of a global zombie outbreak.
5 Data Categories
The five categories each contain a number of data points that are considered to be representative of the category in question. Each of these underlying data points has been analysed and indexed for each city, after which an average score has been calculated. The following is an overview of the underlying data used for each category:
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Vulnerability
Indicators: Population density, perceived physical and mental health, net migration rate, number of hospitals, number of deathsCertain places are predisposed to epidemics and their rapid spread. Think back to recent years. The enormous population density, influx of tourists, percentage of chronic diseases in the population, and even the disaster risk index. We have taken all of these into account to calculate which regions are most vulnerable to zombies in the face of the wave of the dead.
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Hideouts
Indicators: Average household size, number of residential buildings, forest areaDuring an apocalypse, it's not just about astronauts flying on a heroic mission to destroy an asteroid heading towards Earth, but often it's also a game of hide and seek. That's why it's important to find the best, most protected, or remote location to save your life and grow potatoes there. This index indicates how many hiding places there are in the region.
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Supplies
Indicators: Water supply, number of livestockYes, you will need a lot of things: food, fuel, tools, weapons, clothing, medicine, and maybe even a few ornamental fish. So it's better to have all these stores nearby so that you can borrow goods from there as quickly as possible. (But of course, you'll have to return them later!)
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Mobility
Indicators: Number of vehicles, road area, transportation infrastructureIt may also be necessary for you to travel a lot in search of survivors, supplies, or a better fate. Therefore, it's important to consider good transportation and high mobility as they will be your best allies.
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Safety
Indicators: Number of criminal offensesSpeaking of weapons and self-defense, we have looked into who has the most weapons, specialty stores, and military bases. Now we know who is most likely to properly handle those zombies.
Eifelkreis Bitburg-Prüm is the safest place to be
According to our findings Bitburg-Prüm comes up on top in terms of being the city with the highest zombie resistance. But what makes this western district near Frankfurt and Cologne well poised to fight off a wave of zombies or avoid them appearing all together? District achieved relatively high scores in all categories. And despite the fact that in some categories such as vulnerability (No.69) and safety (No.104), the district did not even enter the top 50, it has the highest average score of all. These two important indicators do not cancel out the fact that the district is quite highly rated in hideouts (No.15), supplies (No.2) and mobility (No.26). So in case of zombie threat, you will be well hidden, equipped with everything you need and able to quickly change your location.
Stay away from areas around Gelsenkirchen, Aachen, Augsburg, and Hannover.
The two total lowest rankings are both located near Düsseldorf. Among them are Gelsenkirchen at dead last (No. 395). The city achieved the lowest overall score in three different categories with hideouts, vulnerability, and safety. The city of Potsdam is close to German's capital city not only geographically but also in terms of low rankings in almost all categories except vulnerability.
Nordrhein-Westfalen is a place you don't want to be in when dozens of zombies are coming. This federal state hosts 3 of 10 cities with the lowest rankings. Dortmund (No. 395), Aachen (No. 401) and Gelsenkirchen (No. 402) have less-than-average rankings in all categories, which makes this dense region the worst place to hang out.
The city of Potsdam is not only geographically close to the German capital but also ranks low in almost all categories except vulnerability.
Capital city of Berlin
For our study, we opted to dissect Berlin and its districts to gain a more profound insight into which particular regions of the city would be the most and least viable for enduring a zombie apocalypse. Our research of the districts of Berlin showed that the best place to survive the zombie apocalypse is the northeastern part of the city.
Marzahn-Hellersdorf is the best district, although it is not the best in any of the categories. No. 2 in vulnerability and mobility this district stands in the middle of a list in terms of hideouts (No.7) and supplies (No.5).
Neukölln is placed in the bottom of the list and took the gold medal as a most vulnerable district in Berlin. It also has very low numbers in other categories. Sometimes living in downtown isn`t good at all.
Rheinland-Pfalz is the safest place
We've learnt from zombie movies and TV shows that you’ve got to keep moving. If you've depleted all of your resources in one location, you'll need to relocate to replenish them. If the competition is high, it’s likely that you will die of starvation much sooner. Many of the safest cities are located in the Rheinland-Pfalz.
Besides Bitburg-Prüm you’ll find Westerwaldkreis (No.3), Trier-Saarburg (No.5), Rhein-Hunsrück-Kreis (No.6), Südliche Weinstraße (No.7) and Rhein-Lahn-Kreis (No.10) all in the same region. Our data clearly shows that it is easier to stay alive if you stay close to these places.
Data/
Methodology
All data was collected and processed by the Federal Statistical Office. The latest available data was used for each data source. We excluded from the list of cities and regions those for which there was no data in more than two categories. The min-max normalization was used to index the relevant data sources. This indexing method allows us to convert any type of data into a value between 1 and 10, with 1 representing the lowest/worst value and 10 representing the highest/best value within the respective categories. This means that the higher the score achieved by an area, the better it is compared to others. To ensure the most accurate and representative result, all areas with more than two missing data sources were removed from the quality index.
SOURCE: Statistischen Bundesamt
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