Zombie apocalypse: These are the best and worst prepared places to survive such an event in Spain

A zombie apocalypse. Perhaps one of the greatest fears of the human mind given the multitude of movie films and television series that rely on this genre to make blockbusters on both big and small screens.

There are thousands of theories proposing a future in which a great battle takes place between the living and the walking dead: from global warming and the proliferation of deadly bacteria, such as in The Last of Us, the virus in The Walking Dead, or fungi and other microscopic invaders providing the root causes of said apocalypse in 28 Days Later, World War Z or I am Legend.

As a result, the real estate portal Rentola has carried out a study in Spain as to which provinces would best withstand a zombie apocalypse, along with those that would fare the worst. As to the latter point, Cadiz, the only Andalusian city mentioned in the report. not only has to worry about tsunamis and gale force winds as there is a new, rather far-fetched danger on the horizon: it is the province most unlikely to survive an attack by the living dead.

Rentola has created this ranking based on five sets of data: Vulnerability, hiding places, supplies, security and mobility . The analysis set out to uncover which is the best Spanish province based on the average across these five datasets.

Especially important is population density (the fewer people the better), disability rates, sanitary conditions, hiding places, food and water supplies, road safety, the level of criminality and the number of police officers to ensure security.

Sadly, Cadiz is weak in all these areas. In the areas of mobility and essential supplies it is far behind other provinces, although it seems to have good hiding places and security.

Teruel is the safest, while the portal recommends staying away from Vizcaya and the Balearic Islands.

Barcelona and Madrid, ranked 45th and 47th respectively, do not rank highly. These are the largest cities in Spain, with populations in excess of 5 million inhabitants. So, in densely populated areas like these, a zombie virus would spread rapidly.

These are the data sets that Rentola has included:

Indicators: Population density index, mortality rate, disability rate, long-term health conditions, etc.

Certain places seem just to have been created for epidemics and their rapid spread. Consider the last few years: growing population living in close proximity, the influx of tourists, the percentage of chronic diseases among the population, and even the disaster risk index. Yes, we have used all these indicators to calculate which of Spain's provinces would be most exposed to a wave of multiple deaths.

Indicators: Index of adequately sized dwellings, total number of housing units, quantity of detached houses, etc.

An apocalypse is not necessarily about astronauts flying a heroic mission to destroy an asteroid heading towards Earth. Sometimes it is merely a good game of hide and seek. Therefore, it is important to find the best, the most protected or even perhaps the most remote place to stay safe and grow your own veg. This index shows how many hiding places are available across the region.

Indicators: agricultural products, agriculture, forestry and fishing, accommodation and food availability, etc.

Yes, you will need a lot of things: food, fuel, tools, weapons, clothes, medicine, and maybe even a pet goldfish. So it's best to have all these supply sources close by so you can order what you need from them as soon as possible (but you'll have to return them later!).

Indicators: Road safety, motorhomes, number of motor vehicles per household, etc.

It could be that you will have to move around a lot in search of other survivors, supplies or a better place to live. In this case, it is important that transport is your friend, and being mobile is your best ally.

Indicators: Crime rate, number of people currently serving in the military, etc.

We're talking here about weapons and handy tools for self-defence. We look at who has the most weapons, the most specialised stores and the most military bases accessible. That way we know who is most likely to be able to turn the most zombies to toast.

All data was collected and processed by Spain's INE national statistics institute. For each data category the latest available data was used. In addition, min-max normalisation was used to gauge the data sources in question. This method of indexing has allowed the researchers to convert any type of data to a value between 1-10, where 1 represents the lowest/worst value, and 10 the highest/best value within each category. This means that the higher the score achieved by the selected zone, the better it is in relation to the rest. To ensure the most accurate and representative result possible, all provinces with more than two missing data sets were removed from the index.