Greater Malmö

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Greater Malmö (Swedish: Stor-Malmö) is the south-eastern part of the Scandinavian Öresund Region.

According to the definition as used by Statistics Sweden and Øresund Statistics, Greater Malmö is divided into four areas, one each for the municipalities of Malmö, Lund, and Trelleborg, and a fourth area comprising the remaining municipalities:

The metropolitan area surrounding the cities of Malmö and Lund in the southern-most part of Sweden are usually denoted as South-Western Scania (Sydvästra Skåne), or more seldom Metropolitan Malmö.

Lund, that today is the smaller city, was historically the most important in Scania, with the Lund Cathedral (and Cathedral School) from the 11th century and the Lund University established in the 17th century. Today the city of Malmö is the largest due to its strong growth during the period of industrialization from the 19th century.

Clustered along the shore of The Sound, from the medieval town of Skanör in the South to Bjärred in the North, a set of villages and towns have in the latter half of the 20th century expanded to an almost continuous set of suburbs. The commuter belt in the inland consists of more separate towns and expanded villages.

Since the 1970s, improved highways and commuter train connections have meant that commuting area has grown to include Ystad, Skurup, Sjöbo, Eslöv, Höör, Landskrona and Helsingborg. It's not uncommon to live by Malmö and work either in Ystad or Helsingborg, or vice versa. Mentally, however, these towns have kept their allegiance with older divisions of Scania. Inhabitants of Eslöv and Höör consider themselves to live in Central Scania, like Landskrona still is grouped together with Helsingborg rather than Malmö–Lund.

[edit] Statistics

Municipality	Population	Area¹	Density²
Malmö Municipality	267,171	156	1712.6
Lund Municipality	100,995	430	234.9
Trelleborg Municipality	39,110	342	114.4
Vellinge Municipality	31,300	143	218.9
Kävlinge Municipality	25,539	154	165.8
Staffanstorp Municipality	20,238	108	187.4
Lomma Municipality	18,311	56	327.0
Svedala Municipality	18,269	219	83.4
Burlöv Municipality	15,257	19	803.0
Total	539,190	1,627	329.6