Malmö

Malmö is the capital and largest city of the Swedish county of Scania. Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the 5th biggest city in Scandinavia, with a population of above 300,000. The Malmö Metropolitan Region is home to 700,000 people, and the Øresund Region, which includes Malmö, is home to 3.9 million people.

Malmö was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia, but it struggled with the adaptation to post-industrialism. Since the construction of the Øresund Bridge, Malmö has undergone a major transformation with architectural developments, and it has attracted new biotech and IT companies, and particularly students through Malmö University, founded in 1998. The city contains many historic buildings and parks, and is also a commercial centre for the western part of Scania.

Malmö is located at 13°00' east and 55°35' north. It is located near the southwestern tip of Sweden, in the Scania province.

Malmö is part of the transnational Øresund Region and since 2000, the Øresund Bridge crosses the Øresund to Copenhagen, Denmark. The bridge opened 1 July 2000, and measures 8 kilometres (5 miles) (the whole link totalling 16 km), with pylons reaching 204.5 metres (670.9 feet) vertically. Apart from the Helsingborg-Helsingør ferry links further north, most ferry connections have been discontinued.

Malmö Municipality is an administrative unit defined by geographical borders, consisting of the City of Malmö and its immediate surroundings.

Malmö (Malmö tätort) consists of the urban part of the municipality together with the small town of Arlöv in the Burlöv Municipality. Both municipalities also include smaller urban areas and rural areas, such as the suburbs of Oxie and Åkarp. Malmö tätort is to be distinguished from Malmö stad (the city of Malmö), which is a semi-official name of Malmö Municipality.

The leaders in Malmö created a commission for a socially sustainable Malmö in November 2010. The commission's was tasked with providing evidence-based strategies for reducing health inequalities and improve living conditions for all citizens of Malmö, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged and issued its final report in December 2013.

Malmö is a young city, with almost half of the population under the age of 35 (48%).

After 1971, Malmö had 265,000 inhabitants, but the population then dropped to 229,000 by 1985. The total population of the urban area was 280,415 in December 2010. It then began to rise again, and had passed the previous record by the 1 January 2003 census, when it had 265,481 inhabitants. On 27 April 2011, the population of Malmö reached the 300,000 mark.

Circa 43% of the population have a foreign background (135,509 residents); 31% was born abroad (99,788) and another 11% was Swedish-born (35,721), with foreign-born parents. The Middle East, Horn of Africa, former Yugoslavia and Denmark are the main sources of immigration.

As of 2015, Malmö had the fourth-highest proportion of foreign-born residents of any municipality in Sweden. In addition to these figures, 14% of the population are foreign nationals.

The economy of Malmö was traditionally based on shipbuilding (Kockums) and construction related industries, such as concrete factories. The region's leading university, along with its associated hi-tech and pharmaceutical industries, is located in Lund about 16 kilometres (10 miles) to the north-east. As a result, Malmö had a troubled economic situation following the mid-1970s. Between 1990–1995, 27,000 jobs were lost, and the budget deficit was more than one billion Swedish krona. In 1995, Malmö had Sweden's highest unemployment rate.

However, during the last few years there has been a revival. The main contributing factor has been the economic integration with Denmark brought about by the Øresund Bridge. Almost 10% of the population[citation needed] of Malmö works in Copenhagen. Also the university founded in 1998 and the effects of integration into the European Union have contributed.

In 2004, the rate of wage-earners was 63%, compared to 74% in Stockholm and 71% in Gothenburg. This in turn led to Malmö municipality in 2007 having the 9th lowest median income in Sweden.

In December 2009, Moderna Museet Malmö was opened in the old Rooseum building. It is a part of the Moderna Museet, with independent exhibitions of modern and contemporary art. The collection of Moderna Museet holds key pieces of, among others, Marcel Duchamp, Louise Bourgeois, Pablo Picasso, Niki de Saint Phalle, Salvador Dalí, Carolee Schneemann, Henri Matisse and Robert Rauschenberg. The Malmö Konsthall is one of the largest exhibition halls in Europe for contemporary art, opened in 1975.

The beach Ribersborg, by locals usually called Ribban, south-west of the harbour area, is a man-made shallow beach, stretching along Malmö's coastline. Despite Malmö's chilly climate, it is sometimes referred to as the "Copacabana of Malmö". It is the site of Ribersborgs open-air bath, opened in the 1890s.

The long boardwalk at The Western Harbour, Scaniaparken and Daniaparken, has become a new favourite summer hang-out for the people of Malmö and is a popular place for bathing. The harbour is particularly popular with Malmö's vibrant student community and has been the scene of several impromptu outdoor parties and gatherings.

Source: Wikipedia

Sweden Sights

Local News