Lichtenberg

Lichtenberg lies in the east of Berlin, between Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg and Pankow to the west and Marzahn-Hellersdorf to the east. The district in its current form was created in 2001 from the former districts of Lichtenberg and Hohenschönhausen. Its town hall on Möllendorffstraße was built in 1896 to 1898 for the then independent municipality of Lichtenberg.

On 30 June 2026, 318,905 people were registered in the district (Amt für Statistik Berlin-Brandenburg), up from about 308,300 at the end of 2022. Population statistics divide it into ten localities (Ortsteile). In the south: Friedrichsfelde (about 58,600), Lichtenberg (45,400), Fennpfuhl (34,300), Karlshorst (32,000) and Rummelsburg (28,300). In the north, the former Hohenschönhausen: Neu-Hohenschönhausen (60,000), Alt-Hohenschönhausen (53,800) and the small village localities Falkenberg, Wartenberg and Malchow.

About 26% of residents held a non-German citizenship (Berlin: about 25%), and the average age was 41.9 years, slightly below the Berlin average of 42.9.

Lichtenberg is often described as an architectural patchwork: renovated prefabricated high-rises (Plattenbau) stand next to 1920s buildings, single-family homes and new developments.

• Lichtenberg locality: the historic core around Roedeliusplatz with old buildings, the 1970s prefab estate Frankfurter Allee-Süd, the Ring-Center and Möllendorffpassagen shopping centres, and the Dong Xuan Center, a large Asian wholesale market in the industrial area. The former headquarters of the GDR Ministry of State Security now houses the Stasi Museum and other offices.
• Friedrichsfelde: home of the Tierpark Berlin, at 160 hectares Europe's largest landscape zoo, with Friedrichsfelde Palace in its grounds. Housing is mostly modernised prefab buildings, plus the 1920s Splanemann estate, described as the first German prefabricated housing estate, and the old village centre Alt-Friedrichsfelde.
• Fennpfuhl: the first large prefabricated housing estate of former East Berlin.
• Rummelsburg: Wilhelminian old buildings and many new apartments on the Rummelsburger Bucht.
• Karlshorst: villas, 1920s and 1930s estates and new houses, with the trotting racecourse and the Museum Berlin-Karlshorst (see the Karlshorst profile).
• Hohenschönhausen: large prefabricated estates in Neu-Hohenschönhausen; the Obersee and Orankesee lakes, the Mies van der Rohe Haus and the Berlin-Hohenschönhausen memorial in the former Stasi prison in Alt-Hohenschönhausen; small village localities in Falkenberg, Wartenberg and Malchow.

• U-Bahn: the U5 runs along Frankfurter Allee through Lichtenberg and Friedrichsfelde (Magdalenenstraße, Lichtenberg, Friedrichsfelde, Tierpark), towards Alexanderplatz and the city centre in one direction and Hönow in the other.
• S-Bahn: the S5, S7 and S75 stop at Nöldnerplatz, Lichtenberg and Friedrichsfelde Ost; the S7 continues to Ahrensfelde and the S75 to Hohenschönhausen and Wartenberg. The S3 serves Rummelsburg and Karlshorst towards Erkner and the city centre. The Ringbahn (S41/S42) runs along the western edge.
• Regional trains: Berlin-Lichtenberg station is also a stop for regional lines towards Brandenburg and Poland.
• Tram: an extensive network, including the M4 and M5 from Hohenschönhausen to the centre, the M17 from Falkenberg via Hohenschönhausen and Karlshorst to Schöneweide and Adlershof, and lines 21, 27 and 37 through Lichtenberg, Friedrichsfelde and Karlshorst.

Main roads such as Frankfurter Allee, Landsberger Allee and Treskowallee carry heavy traffic.

• Prefabricated estates (Plattenbau): the dominant housing type in Fennpfuhl, Friedrichsfelde, Frankfurter Allee-Süd and Neu-Hohenschönhausen, much of it extensively renovated.
• Old buildings: pockets in Alt-Lichtenberg, Rummelsburg and Karlshorst.
• Villas and single-family homes: Karlshorst, Alt-Hohenschönhausen around the lakes, and the village localities in the north.
• New builds: Rummelsburg on the waterfront and new residential areas in Karlshorst and elsewhere.

In the 2025 IBB housing market report, the district's median asking rent was clearly below the Berlin median, with about 3,500 listings. Asking rents differ strongly between planning areas: medians ranged from under €8 per m² in some areas of Fennpfuhl and Hohenschönhausen to about €18 or more in Rummelsburg and southern Karlshorst.

Lichtenberg has a slightly younger age structure than Berlin overall: on 30 June 2026 about 14.7% of residents were under 15 (Berlin: 13.3%), including about 18,100 children under six.

For days out there is the Tierpark, the Landschaftspark Herzberge with sheep pastures, orchards and ponds, the lido at the Orankesee with a sandy beach, the Naturhof Malchow nature centre and the water sports on the Rummelsburger Bucht.

Search for daycare places by address in the city's Kita-Navigator and look up schools in the Senate's school directory; see our guides on childcare and schools.