strait which separates
Zealand from
Scania—extending as far east as
Bornholm While actually a transnational region of co-operation, rather than a metropolitan area, the
Øresund Region is by some considered to constitute the metropolitan area of Copenhagen. This goes back to the
Initiativgruppen (a group tasked for developing the Copenhagen area in 1989), which was tasked with creating the
metropole of the north. However, the region promotes their commercial interests through the cooperative interest organisation Greater Copenhagen. As of 1 October 2011 the
Øresund Region is populated by 3,783,158 inhabitants with a density of 181.3/km2 (469.5/sq mi) (Danish side: 2,531,945, Swedish side: 1,251,213). According to
OECD, however, this region includes vast areas which are not recognized as part of the functional metropolitan area.
Core of the Øresund Region Copenhagen is by far the largest city, and the obvious core of the region. However the
Øresund Region covers large areas that are located remotely from both Copenhagen and the
Øresund sea, some with a rather low population density. Hence, a better area for comparison with other regions, bi-lateral or national ones, is a lot narrower and includes the four Danish provinces
Copenhagen by,
Copenhagen omegn,
Nordsjælland and
Østsjælland with a total area of only 2.768,6 square kilometres with 2,045,259 inhabitants as of 1 January 2019 And on the Swedish side the 17 Scanian municipalities that either has direct border to the Øresund Sea or borders to a such municipality. (Bjuv, Burlöv, Eslöv, Helsingborg, Höganäs, Kävlinge, Landskrona, Lomma, Lund, Malmö, Staffanstorp, Svedala, Svalöv, Trelleborg, Vellinge, Åstorp and Ängelholm) These municipalities covers a total area of 3,387.5 square kilometres and had a population of 1,003,631 inhabitants by 1.January 2019 A total population of 2,931,445 living at an aggregate area of 5,969.9 km2, with a population density of 491.0 inhabitants per km2 of land. This is an
illustration of the population and population density around the Øresund sea rather than a formal area. But as such the population around Øresund constitutes by far the largest population centre of
Scandinavia and
Finland.
Copenhagen metropolitan area (within Denmark only) Copenhagen metropolitan area is most commonly recognized, and before 2007 official, equal to the Danish part of this "core". The four mentioned Danish provinces, with two million inhabitants at a
land area of 2.768,6 km2 and a population density of 722 people per square kilometre. While the administrational
Region Hovedstaden includes the remote Baltic Sea island
Bornholm, but excludes important suburbs south-west and west of the city as well as the locally important towns
Køge and
Roskilde which both are largely build together with the Danish capital through newer suburban areas.
Political reasons Some Danish politicians simply do not want more than a third of the Danish Kingdom to be considered as parts of the capital, while remote areas on islands without fixed connections as well as parts of the windy
North Sea coast get lower population figures. The 2007 regional and municipality reforms aimed to level
figures out more evenly. Before 1970 there were 1098 Danish municipalities, between 1970 and 2006 this figure varied between 277 (from 1 April 1974 275, 1 January 2003 271, 1 January 2006 270) and 270. And by 2007 they were merged into 98, however
Copenhagen has not been allowed to include any new land area since 1902, despite
Frederiksberg with 100,000+ inhabitants, on an 8.8 km2 surface, ever since 1901 has been an enclave totally surrounded by Copenhagen. After 1902 Copenhagen municipality has only grown geographically through
land reclamation. ==OECD==