Oresund Region

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The Oresund Region (Øresundsregionen in Danish or Öresundsregionen in Swedish) is a transnational region in southern Scandinavia located by the shores of the Oresund strait. The eastern part is constituted by Skåne County in Sweden and the western part is located on the Danish island of Zealand, connected by the Oresund Bridge.

The region was last united under one flag, Denmark's, in 1658. Skåne has belonged to Sweden since 1658 when the Treaty of Roskilde was signed, but has stressed its regional identity, as opposed to other parts of Sweden, in recent years.

One idea with the Oresund Bridge was that it would help create a unified region comprising Copenhagen and the Swedish communities on the eastern side of the strait. This greater metropolitan region is one of the largest in northern Europe and would be a potential hub for economic activity in the Baltic area.

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

Another problem has been the lack of coordination of the rules for taxes and welfare etc. People commuting to work over the border risked paying double taxes, losing 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. These problems have been mostly solved after years of political coordination between the countries.

Around the opening of the bridge, there were attempts to promote an 'Oresund identity', the people on both sides becoming 'Oresund citizens' rather than just Danes and Swedes. Though this doesn't appear to have had much specific impact, the interaction across the border has significantly increased, as well as the understanding of the neighbouring language. The tendency is, however, that Copenhagen remains the major attraction for Swedes who cross over to use shops, nightlife, cultural and educational institutions as well as the Copenhagen Airport. Malmö acts as the smaller counterpart and is becoming a popular commuter city for Danes who favour of lower Swedish estate prices.

The ports of Copenhagen and Malmö merged in 2001 to form a single company, Copenhagen Malmö Port. This merger of ports in two countries is unique, according to the company itself.^[1]

[edit] Statistics

Region	Population	Area	Density
Danish Capital Region	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