Öresund: how the bridge that joins Sweden and Denmark changed the economy of the two countries

Before I worked for a Swedish video game studio in Malmö and decided to stay there when he got a job at the headquarters of IO Interactive in Copenhagen, where he travels four times a week.

“There are people who choose Copenhagen to live, for being in a bustling capital and with many activities,” says the global brand manager. “I prefer Malmö; it is a city on a human scale, you can walk everywhere.”

Their stories are the personification of what the governments of Sweden and Denmark imagined when they signed an agreement in 1991 to build a permanent link through the Öresund Strait.

The objective was to streamline and facilitate trips (previously, travelers depended on grids or short distance flights), improve regional integration and boost economic growth. It cost 30,000 million Danish crowns (US4.3 billion) and was built in five years.

A quarter of a century after its construction, it remains the longest road and railway bridge in the European Union, with 16 km, including a section of tunnel.

The journey offers travelers cinematographic views on water, and their gigantic metal towers are impressive. The infrastructure inspired one of the most successful television franchises in Scandinavia, the cross -border criminal drama “The Bridge”, which was a worldwide success in the 2010.

The figures published in May by the Öresinstitutet, an independent research organization of the region, highlights the broad impact that the bridge has had on transport and business trends, on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.

Cross -border displacements have increased by more than 400% (although exact comparisons are complicated due to changes in data collection methods).

The number of Swedes and Danes who move to the other side of the bridge has increased by more than 60%.

In addition, the connection has helped thousands of people create businesses on the other side of the river.

According to Öresinstitutet data, there has been a 73% increase in these types of companies.

“We have this unique opportunity to come and go,” says Sandra Mondahl, director of IO Interactive, who helped launch the company's brother study in Malmö in 2019.

“I feel very empowered to be able to contribute to the development of both video game development sectors, both in Denmark and in Sweden,” says the 33 -year -old, originally from Copenhagen.

The Öresinstitutet research also suggests that more than 100 companies have transferred their Swedish headquarters or specialized offices to Malmö from the opening of the bridge, creating thousands of new employment opportunities in the old industrial city.

These include parts of the Ikea and Ikano group, a Swedish bank.

“Many large Danish companies have also established their Swedish offices in Malmö instead of Stockholm (the Swedish capital), such as large pharmaceuticals,” says Johan Wessman, executive director of the Öresundsinstitutet.

The institute's research suggests that, in addition to better access to a major labor group qualified on both sides of the Öresund Strait, Malmö is attractive to business owners due to the availability of modern office spaces in recently developed areas near their stations and its proximity to Copenhagen International Airport.

Malmö has experienced a boom of new technology and life science companies.

A study by the University of Lund, published in 2022, revealed a more pronounced increase in the number of patents in relation to its population, compared to other important regions of Sweden, such as Gootemburg and Stockholm.

An independent study of 2022, conducted by the Department of Economics of the University, suggested that the trade between Denmark and Sweden in the region is 25% greater than it would have been if the bridge had never been built.

A study by the Öresundinstitutet indicates that in 2024 a record number of people who moved by train was recorded, with almost 41,000 daily trips.

This reversed the drop recorded during the pandemic, when border controls and the reduction of services caused important interruptions.

However, Wessman states that the growing popularity of cross -border displacements implies that congestion is becoming a problem, and the “future generation” trains “designed to relieve pressure, will not be launched up to at least 2030.

Despite the rise of business relocations to Malmö and the region's innovation reputation, Öresinstitutet data also suggests that the Swedish city still has a job to do to foster displacements from Denmark. More than 95% of travelers travel in the opposite direction, from Malmö to Copenhagen.

“Malmö is a regional city. In a capital, there are jobs that do not exist in a smaller city, and salaries in Copenhagen are higher than in Malmö,” explains Wessman.

Boazt, a Danish property digital platform that established its headquarters in Malmö in 2010, recently announced the transfer of its headquarters to Copenhagen.

Its executive and co -founder director, Hermann Haraldsson, affirms that, although he has personally enjoyed traveling to Malmö for the past 15 years, it is increasingly difficult to attract young Danish talents of the vibrant capital.

“I think there is a mental barrier for some Danes to cross the bridge and work in Sweden,” he says, recognizing that many Copenhagen residents support longer daily displacements within the city, compared to typical travel times on the bridge.

“Since we announced the measure, I think the number of applications for vacancies has tripled.”

Haraldsson also believes that crossing the Öresund bridge is too expensive.

A trip in the first train from the center of Copenhagen to Malmö costs about US $ 17 and takes about 40 minutes. Driving costs about US $ 80, although there are great discounts for regular travelers.

The executive director argues that there are also too many administrative obstacles for cross -border workers, since Sweden and Denmark have different pension systems, low due to maternity or paternity and unemployment insurance.

In January, a new agreement between the two countries entered into force, designed to simplify income tax regulations for those who travel daily to work.

Cultural integration has also been more complicated than the Swedish and Danish authorities foresaw, says Wessman, executive director of the Öresinstitutet.

He points out that, although Nordic countries may seem very similar to global observers, differences in labor cultures can make entrepreneurs have difficulty understanding, despite good intentions.

“The Danes are known for being the most direct of Scandinavian cultures, while Swedes are known for being more prone to consensus,” adds Mondahl, gambling manager born in Copenhagen and now resident in Malmö.

“When I first arrived in the Swedish work environment, there were many meetings and everyone needed to be heard in everything, and it is about discovering how to get the most out of that,” he says.

Despite these challenges, the bridge remains a world icon for cross -border and regional collaboration.

He inspired Fehmarnbelt, a new tunnel that is being built under the Baltic Sea between Denmark and Germany, designed to further improve Scandinavia connections with the rest of Europe. Finland is also exploring a new bridge over the Baltic Sea that will connect the city of Vaasa with Umeå, in northern Sweden.

Wessman argues that the importance of this type of safe fixed connections is accentuated in the context of the war in Ukraine and the recent adhesion of Sweden and Finland to NATO, which includes the commitment to help other Member States.

Swedish and Danish authorities are also considering several possible cross -border connections. These include road and rail to Denmark from the Swedish city of Helsingborg or Landskrona (both in southwest Sweden), and a new meter that will connect Malmö with Copenhagen.

“I think they will spend several years before the next connection is ready to be inaugurated. But it will arrive, and it will be necessary,” concludes Wessman.

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