Few years ago, a newspaper claimed the block I live in — Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin — is the most fertile region in Europe. It was a hoax, as this (German) newspaper article points out. (The article has become quite famous because it coined the term Bionade Biedermeier to describe the life style in this area.)

However, there are more children in my district than in the other parts of Berlin. Have a look at this map:

(The base map and population data come from the State’s statistical office. Data at block level is not readily available, though.)

The place I live is marked by a hair cross. Indeed, in this district there is a “higher exposure to kids” than in the other districts, one children per 1000 inhabitants more than in Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg, and twelve children per 1000 more than in Charlottenburg-Wilmersdorf. Exposure is of course different from fertility, maybe that is what I learned from playing with the map.

If you want to know how to draw this thematic map with R, and add the point and the legends to it, or if you are just looking for a shapefile of Berlin, then read on.