The Øresund or Öresund Region is a transnational region

Divided regions

Divided regions are transnational regions, islands, etc., that may have at one time been a united sovereign state but are or have been subsequently politically divided by national borders, into separate sovereign and/or administrative divisions...

 in northern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, centred on the cities of Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and Malmö

Malmö

Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

. Located by the shores of the Øresund strait and connected by the Oresund Bridge

Oresund Bridge

The Øresund or Öresund Bridge is a combined twin-track railway and dual carriageway bridge-tunnel across the Øresund strait.The bridge connects Sweden and Denmark, and it is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe. The Øresund Bridge also connects two major Metropolitan Areas: those of the...

, the Capital Region of Denmark and Region Zealand constitute the Danish side, while Skåne County

Skåne County

Skåne County is the southernmost administrative county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the historical province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö...

 constitutes the Swedish side. The region has a population of 3,783,158 (October 1 2011) and a population density of 181/km².

Since the Treaty of Roskilde

Treaty of Roskilde

The Treaty of Roskilde was concluded on 26 February or 8 March 1658 during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Charles X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde...

 of 1658, Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

  has been part of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

; for most of the period from 800 to 1658, the Oresund Region was united under the flag of Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. In recent years, part of the population has stressed Scania's regional identity again, but Scanian separatism remains very limited and is not a political issue.

The Oresund Region consists of both rural and urban areas. There are two metropolitan areas within the region, Greater Copenhagen

Region Hovedstaden

The Capital Region of Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the...

 and Metropolitan Malmö. Areas on the periphery of the region have a relatively low population density, whereas the two metropolitan areas of Copenhagen and Malmö are two of the most densely populated in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, with approximately 2.6 million inhabitants together. Helsingborg

Helsingborg

Helsingborg is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 97,122 inhabitants in 2010. Helsingborg is the centre of an area in the Øresund region of about 320,000 inhabitants in north-west Scania, and is Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with the Danish city...

 also forms an important urban hub on the Swedish side. Although the southwest of Scania is sometimes called the Malmö-Lund area, these two cities remain distinct both geographically and culturally.

Cross-border activity

The Oresund Region is an important hub for economic activity in Scandinavia.

In 2007, almost 25 million people traveled over the Øresund Bridge: 15.2 million by car and bus, and 9.6 million by train. By 2009, the figure had risen to a total of 35.6 million travellers by car, coach, train or ferry.

Statistics compiled in January 2007 show 14,000 people commuting each day over the Öresund Bridge. Compared with 2005, the commuter traffic increased by 43% in 2006. The growing number of Swedes commuting in order to take advantage of the need for labour on the job market in Copenhagen and the higher salaries offered in Denmark, as well as an increased immigration of Danes to the south of Sweden, were essential factors in the traffic increase. In 2006, 4,300 persons moved from the Danish part of the Oresund Region to Scania, attracted by lower Scanian real estate prices. Since July 2000, 22,500 Danes have moved to Scania.

Apart from work related commuting, Swedes cross over to Copenhagen to enjoy shopping and nightlife, to attend cultural and educational institutions and to use Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark and the Oresund Region. It is located on the island of Amager, south of Copenhagen city centre, and west of Malmö city centre on the other side of the Oresund Bridge. The airport lies mainly in the municipality...

. The airport in Scania, Malmö Airport is located 47 km (29.2 mi) from Copenhagen Airport and has limited international air traffic.

After the opening of the bridge, an 'Öresund identity' has been promoted in the region in order to counter-act various barriers to cross-border cooperation caused by nationalistic sentiments on both sides. In 1997, a consortium of twelve universities (four Swedish and eight Danish) from both sides of the Sound has been established, opening up all courses, libraries and other facilities to all students, teachers and researchers from the region. The universities have 150,000 students and more than 14,000 researchers combined. The secretariat is located at Lund University and at the University of Copenhagen.

The commercial interaction across the border has also significantly increased. Currently, an average of 15,800 vehicles cross the bridge each day.

The ports of Copenhagen and Malmö were merged in 2001 to form a single company, Copenhagen Malmö Port. This cross-border merger of two ports into one legal entity is the first in history, according to Copenhagen Malmö Port AB, the Swedish registered limited liability company operating the port, a company equally owned by Port of Copenhagen and Port of Malmö.

Political and administrative structure

Since 1993, local, regional and national authorities have cooperated in a regional policy forum called the Øresund Committee. The forum consists of 32 politicians and 32 deputies, whose election periods differ as they comply with the functional period for the various authorities they represent. The two state authorities have 12 appointed governmental representatives each on the committee. A commission of civil servants, the Øresund Commission, handles the day-to-day administrative tasks.

The committee is legally a member organization funded by its members and by the Nordic Council

Nordic Council

The Nordic Council is a geo-political, inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. It was established following World War II and its first concrete result was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market and free movement across borders without passports for the...

 through external project funding. The European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 cross-border projects have supported the region through Interreg II (1994–1999) and Interreg IIIA, operative since the end of 2000. In 1997, an EU-funded EURORES project was launched in the region in order to promote a common labor market.

Problems

One deterrent to closer economic integration is the lack of a single currency, as both Sweden and Denmark maintain their own currencies, the Danish krone

Danish krone

The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...

 and Swedish krona

Swedish krona

The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

, although both are accepted in some areas of the other country.

Another problem has been a lack of transparency and coordination of the rules for taxes, social security

Social security

Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

, pension and unemployment benefits. People commuting to work over the border had a problem receiving information of rules affecting them and risked paying double taxes. They also risked losing the right to unemployment benefits because foreign employment did not contribute to entitlements in their home state, losing the right to kindergarten for their small children for the same reason etc. Some of these problems have been solved after the recent years of political coordination between the countries, but the local tax authorities have difficulties implementing the complex rules for cross-border taxation.

An imbalance in the municipal budgets is also a problem, since the flow of commuters move mostly in one direction: from the residential side in Sweden to the labor market side in Denmark. Rules of taxation have left the Scanian municipalities with increased costs not covered by increased tax revenues from the growing commuter population mainly taxed in the country of employment.

A third problem is voting privileges; Danes living on the Swedish side of the Oresund Region lose their right to vote in general elections in Denmark.

Statistics

Region	Population	Area	Density
Danish Capital Region Danish Capital Region Hovedstadsregionen was the name of the greater metropolitan region around and including Copenhagen , Denmark. It included the counties of Copenhagen, Frederiksborg and Roskilde....	1,823,109	2,864 km²	636.5/km²
Remainder	608,036	6,970 km²	87.2/km²
Total for Danish part:	2,431,145	9,834 km²	247.2/km²
South Skåne	683,886	2,680 km²	255.1/km²
West Skåne	305,982	2,730 km²	112.1/km²
North-East Skåne	162,829	3,705 km²	43.9/km²
Total for Swedish part:	1,125,697	11,035 km²	102.0/km²
Grand Total	3,583,842	20,869 km²	171.7/km²

Data as of January 1, 2004
The Øresund or Öresund Region is a transnational region

Divided regions

Divided regions are transnational regions, islands, etc., that may have at one time been a united sovereign state but are or have been subsequently politically divided by national borders, into separate sovereign and/or administrative divisions...

 in northern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, centred on the cities of Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and Malmö

Malmö

Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

. Located by the shores of the Øresund strait and connected by the Oresund Bridge

Oresund Bridge

The Øresund or Öresund Bridge is a combined twin-track railway and dual carriageway bridge-tunnel across the Øresund strait.The bridge connects Sweden and Denmark, and it is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe. The Øresund Bridge also connects two major Metropolitan Areas: those of the...

, the Capital Region of Denmark and Region Zealand constitute the Danish side, while Skåne County

Skåne County

Skåne County is the southernmost administrative county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the historical province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö...

 constitutes the Swedish side. The region has a population of 3,783,158 (October 1 2011) and a population density of 181/km².

Since the Treaty of Roskilde

Treaty of Roskilde

The Treaty of Roskilde was concluded on 26 February or 8 March 1658 during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Charles X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde...

 of 1658, Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

  has been part of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

; for most of the period from 800 to 1658, the Oresund Region was united under the flag of Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. In recent years, part of the population has stressed Scania's regional identity again, but Scanian separatism remains very limited and is not a political issue.

The Oresund Region consists of both rural and urban areas. There are two metropolitan areas within the region, Greater Copenhagen

Region Hovedstaden

The Capital Region of Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the...

 and Metropolitan Malmö. Areas on the periphery of the region have a relatively low population density, whereas the two metropolitan areas of Copenhagen and Malmö are two of the most densely populated in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, with approximately 2.6 million inhabitants together. Helsingborg

Helsingborg

Helsingborg is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 97,122 inhabitants in 2010. Helsingborg is the centre of an area in the Øresund region of about 320,000 inhabitants in north-west Scania, and is Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with the Danish city...

 also forms an important urban hub on the Swedish side. Although the southwest of Scania is sometimes called the Malmö-Lund area, these two cities remain distinct both geographically and culturally.

Cross-border activity

The Oresund Region is an important hub for economic activity in Scandinavia.

In 2007, almost 25 million people traveled over the Øresund Bridge: 15.2 million by car and bus, and 9.6 million by train. By 2009, the figure had risen to a total of 35.6 million travellers by car, coach, train or ferry.

Statistics compiled in January 2007 show 14,000 people commuting each day over the Öresund Bridge. Compared with 2005, the commuter traffic increased by 43% in 2006. The growing number of Swedes commuting in order to take advantage of the need for labour on the job market in Copenhagen and the higher salaries offered in Denmark, as well as an increased immigration of Danes to the south of Sweden, were essential factors in the traffic increase. In 2006, 4,300 persons moved from the Danish part of the Oresund Region to Scania, attracted by lower Scanian real estate prices. Since July 2000, 22,500 Danes have moved to Scania.

Apart from work related commuting, Swedes cross over to Copenhagen to enjoy shopping and nightlife, to attend cultural and educational institutions and to use Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark and the Oresund Region. It is located on the island of Amager, south of Copenhagen city centre, and west of Malmö city centre on the other side of the Oresund Bridge. The airport lies mainly in the municipality...

. The airport in Scania, Malmö Airport is located 47 km (29.2 mi) from Copenhagen Airport and has limited international air traffic.

After the opening of the bridge, an 'Öresund identity' has been promoted in the region in order to counter-act various barriers to cross-border cooperation caused by nationalistic sentiments on both sides. In 1997, a consortium of twelve universities (four Swedish and eight Danish) from both sides of the Sound has been established, opening up all courses, libraries and other facilities to all students, teachers and researchers from the region. The universities have 150,000 students and more than 14,000 researchers combined. The secretariat is located at Lund University and at the University of Copenhagen.

The commercial interaction across the border has also significantly increased. Currently, an average of 15,800 vehicles cross the bridge each day.

The ports of Copenhagen and Malmö were merged in 2001 to form a single company, Copenhagen Malmö Port. This cross-border merger of two ports into one legal entity is the first in history, according to Copenhagen Malmö Port AB, the Swedish registered limited liability company operating the port, a company equally owned by Port of Copenhagen and Port of Malmö.

Political and administrative structure

Since 1993, local, regional and national authorities have cooperated in a regional policy forum called the Øresund Committee. The forum consists of 32 politicians and 32 deputies, whose election periods differ as they comply with the functional period for the various authorities they represent. The two state authorities have 12 appointed governmental representatives each on the committee. A commission of civil servants, the Øresund Commission, handles the day-to-day administrative tasks.

The committee is legally a member organization funded by its members and by the Nordic Council

Nordic Council

The Nordic Council is a geo-political, inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. It was established following World War II and its first concrete result was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market and free movement across borders without passports for the...

 through external project funding. The European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 cross-border projects have supported the region through Interreg II (1994–1999) and Interreg IIIA, operative since the end of 2000. In 1997, an EU-funded EURORES project was launched in the region in order to promote a common labor market.

Problems

One deterrent to closer economic integration is the lack of a single currency, as both Sweden and Denmark maintain their own currencies, the Danish krone

Danish krone

The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...

 and Swedish krona

Swedish krona

The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

, although both are accepted in some areas of the other country.

Another problem has been a lack of transparency and coordination of the rules for taxes, social security

Social security

Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

, pension and unemployment benefits. People commuting to work over the border had a problem receiving information of rules affecting them and risked paying double taxes. They also risked losing the right to unemployment benefits because foreign employment did not contribute to entitlements in their home state, losing the right to kindergarten for their small children for the same reason etc. Some of these problems have been solved after the recent years of political coordination between the countries, but the local tax authorities have difficulties implementing the complex rules for cross-border taxation.

An imbalance in the municipal budgets is also a problem, since the flow of commuters move mostly in one direction: from the residential side in Sweden to the labor market side in Denmark. Rules of taxation have left the Scanian municipalities with increased costs not covered by increased tax revenues from the growing commuter population mainly taxed in the country of employment.

A third problem is voting privileges; Danes living on the Swedish side of the Oresund Region lose their right to vote in general elections in Denmark.

Statistics

Region	Population	Area	Density
Danish Capital Region Danish Capital Region Hovedstadsregionen was the name of the greater metropolitan region around and including Copenhagen , Denmark. It included the counties of Copenhagen, Frederiksborg and Roskilde....	1,823,109	2,864 km²	636.5/km²
Remainder	608,036	6,970 km²	87.2/km²
Total for Danish part:	2,431,145	9,834 km²	247.2/km²
South Skåne	683,886	2,680 km²	255.1/km²
West Skåne	305,982	2,730 km²	112.1/km²
North-East Skåne	162,829	3,705 km²	43.9/km²
Total for Swedish part:	1,125,697	11,035 km²	102.0/km²
Grand Total	3,583,842	20,869 km²	171.7/km²

Data as of January 1, 2004
The Øresund or Öresund Region is a transnational region

Divided regions

Divided regions are transnational regions, islands, etc., that may have at one time been a united sovereign state but are or have been subsequently politically divided by national borders, into separate sovereign and/or administrative divisions...

 in northern Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, centred on the cities of Copenhagen

Copenhagen

Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...

 and Malmö

Malmö

Malmö , in the southernmost province of Scania, is the third most populous city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg.Malmö is the seat of Malmö Municipality and the capital of Skåne County...

. Located by the shores of the Øresund strait and connected by the Oresund Bridge

Oresund Bridge

The Øresund or Öresund Bridge is a combined twin-track railway and dual carriageway bridge-tunnel across the Øresund strait.The bridge connects Sweden and Denmark, and it is the longest road and rail bridge in Europe. The Øresund Bridge also connects two major Metropolitan Areas: those of the...

, the Capital Region of Denmark and Region Zealand constitute the Danish side, while Skåne County

Skåne County

Skåne County is the southernmost administrative county or län, of Sweden, basically corresponding to the historical province Scania. It borders the counties of Halland, Kronoberg and Blekinge. The seat of residence for the Skåne Governor is the town of Malmö...

 constitutes the Swedish side. The region has a population of 3,783,158 (October 1 2011) and a population density of 181/km².

Since the Treaty of Roskilde

Treaty of Roskilde

The Treaty of Roskilde was concluded on 26 February or 8 March 1658 during the Second Northern War between Frederick III of Denmark–Norway and Charles X Gustav of Sweden in the Danish city of Roskilde...

 of 1658, Scania

Scania

Scania is the southernmost of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden, constituting a peninsula on the southern tip of the Scandinavian peninsula, and some adjacent islands. The modern administrative subdivision Skåne County is almost, but not totally, congruent with the...

  has been part of Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

; for most of the period from 800 to 1658, the Oresund Region was united under the flag of Denmark

Denmark

Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...

. In recent years, part of the population has stressed Scania's regional identity again, but Scanian separatism remains very limited and is not a political issue.

The Oresund Region consists of both rural and urban areas. There are two metropolitan areas within the region, Greater Copenhagen

Region Hovedstaden

The Capital Region of Denmark is an administrative region of Denmark established on January 1, 2007 as part of the 2007 Danish Municipal Reform, which replaced the traditional counties with five larger regions. At the same time, smaller municipalities were merged into larger units, cutting the...

 and Metropolitan Malmö. Areas on the periphery of the region have a relatively low population density, whereas the two metropolitan areas of Copenhagen and Malmö are two of the most densely populated in Scandinavia

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...

, with approximately 2.6 million inhabitants together. Helsingborg

Helsingborg

Helsingborg is a city and the seat of Helsingborg Municipality, Skåne County, Sweden with 97,122 inhabitants in 2010. Helsingborg is the centre of an area in the Øresund region of about 320,000 inhabitants in north-west Scania, and is Sweden's closest point to Denmark, with the Danish city...

 also forms an important urban hub on the Swedish side. Although the southwest of Scania is sometimes called the Malmö-Lund area, these two cities remain distinct both geographically and culturally.

Cross-border activity

The Oresund Region is an important hub for economic activity in Scandinavia.

In 2007, almost 25 million people traveled over the Øresund Bridge: 15.2 million by car and bus, and 9.6 million by train. By 2009, the figure had risen to a total of 35.6 million travellers by car, coach, train or ferry.

Statistics compiled in January 2007 show 14,000 people commuting each day over the Öresund Bridge. Compared with 2005, the commuter traffic increased by 43% in 2006. The growing number of Swedes commuting in order to take advantage of the need for labour on the job market in Copenhagen and the higher salaries offered in Denmark, as well as an increased immigration of Danes to the south of Sweden, were essential factors in the traffic increase. In 2006, 4,300 persons moved from the Danish part of the Oresund Region to Scania, attracted by lower Scanian real estate prices. Since July 2000, 22,500 Danes have moved to Scania.

Apart from work related commuting, Swedes cross over to Copenhagen to enjoy shopping and nightlife, to attend cultural and educational institutions and to use Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport

Copenhagen Airport is the main international airport serving Copenhagen, Denmark and the Oresund Region. It is located on the island of Amager, south of Copenhagen city centre, and west of Malmö city centre on the other side of the Oresund Bridge. The airport lies mainly in the municipality...

. The airport in Scania, Malmö Airport is located 47 km (29.2 mi) from Copenhagen Airport and has limited international air traffic.

After the opening of the bridge, an 'Öresund identity' has been promoted in the region in order to counter-act various barriers to cross-border cooperation caused by nationalistic sentiments on both sides. In 1997, a consortium of twelve universities (four Swedish and eight Danish) from both sides of the Sound has been established, opening up all courses, libraries and other facilities to all students, teachers and researchers from the region. The universities have 150,000 students and more than 14,000 researchers combined. The secretariat is located at Lund University and at the University of Copenhagen.

The commercial interaction across the border has also significantly increased. Currently, an average of 15,800 vehicles cross the bridge each day.

The ports of Copenhagen and Malmö were merged in 2001 to form a single company, Copenhagen Malmö Port. This cross-border merger of two ports into one legal entity is the first in history, according to Copenhagen Malmö Port AB, the Swedish registered limited liability company operating the port, a company equally owned by Port of Copenhagen and Port of Malmö.

Political and administrative structure

Since 1993, local, regional and national authorities have cooperated in a regional policy forum called the Øresund Committee. The forum consists of 32 politicians and 32 deputies, whose election periods differ as they comply with the functional period for the various authorities they represent. The two state authorities have 12 appointed governmental representatives each on the committee. A commission of civil servants, the Øresund Commission, handles the day-to-day administrative tasks.

The committee is legally a member organization funded by its members and by the Nordic Council

Nordic Council

The Nordic Council is a geo-political, inter-parliamentary forum for co-operation between the Nordic countries. It was established following World War II and its first concrete result was the introduction in 1952 of a common labour market and free movement across borders without passports for the...

 through external project funding. The European Union

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

 cross-border projects have supported the region through Interreg II (1994–1999) and Interreg IIIA, operative since the end of 2000. In 1997, an EU-funded EURORES project was launched in the region in order to promote a common labor market.

Problems

One deterrent to closer economic integration is the lack of a single currency, as both Sweden and Denmark maintain their own currencies, the Danish krone

Danish krone

The krone is the official currency of the Kingdom of Denmark consisting of Denmark, the Faroe Islands and Greenland. It is subdivided into 100 øre...

 and Swedish krona

Swedish krona

The krona has been the currency of Sweden since 1873. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it, but especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value...

, although both are accepted in some areas of the other country.

Another problem has been a lack of transparency and coordination of the rules for taxes, social security

Social security

Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...

, pension and unemployment benefits. People commuting to work over the border had a problem receiving information of rules affecting them and risked paying double taxes. They also risked losing the right to unemployment benefits because foreign employment did not contribute to entitlements in their home state, losing the right to kindergarten for their small children for the same reason etc. Some of these problems have been solved after the recent years of political coordination between the countries, but the local tax authorities have difficulties implementing the complex rules for cross-border taxation.

An imbalance in the municipal budgets is also a problem, since the flow of commuters move mostly in one direction: from the residential side in Sweden to the labor market side in Denmark. Rules of taxation have left the Scanian municipalities with increased costs not covered by increased tax revenues from the growing commuter population mainly taxed in the country of employment.

A third problem is voting privileges; Danes living on the Swedish side of the Oresund Region lose their right to vote in general elections in Denmark.

Statistics

Region	Population	Area	Density
Danish Capital Region Danish Capital Region Hovedstadsregionen was the name of the greater metropolitan region around and including Copenhagen , Denmark. It included the counties of Copenhagen, Frederiksborg and Roskilde....	1,823,109	2,864 km²	636.5/km²
Remainder	608,036	6,970 km²	87.2/km²
Total for Danish part:	2,431,145	9,834 km²	247.2/km²
South Skåne	683,886	2,680 km²	255.1/km²
West Skåne	305,982	2,730 km²	112.1/km²
North-East Skåne	162,829	3,705 km²	43.9/km²
Total for Swedish part:	1,125,697	11,035 km²	102.0/km²
Grand Total	3,583,842	20,869 km²	171.7/km²

Data as of January 1, 2004