This is a part of the report from the project 'The regional development impact of the Öresund bridge'. The aim of that project is to study different consequences of the Öresund bridge concerning the development in the region, the development of methods for consequence analysis and to create a database for long-term evaluation. This report shows the results from interviews made with decision-makers from Denmark and Sweden.

When the Öresund bridge opened on 1st July 2000, it realised an old vision of a link between Denmark and Sweden and one step was taken towards creating the biggest urban region in Scandinavia. The development of the Öresundregion has not yet led to a region and this shows in the publication from OECD 'Territorial Review of Östersund'.

The centre of the Öresundregion is Copenhagen, which has 3% of the region's surface and one third of the total population, mostly aged in their thirties, and also a major part of the places of employment. At the same time there is a majority of the working population (53%) on the Danish side and the need for labour from the Swedish side is limited and therefore commuting is moderate.

The age structure of the working population will change in the near future and become a disadvantage for the Danish side, where the young population is lower than on the Swedish side. Then it can be expected that an increased integration will take place, through a growing demand for young Swedish labour in the head of the region. The housing costs are lower and there is less congestion on the Swedish side, which leads to a continued moving of Danish households, which would increase commuting.