The growing number of Swedes commuting in order to take advantage of the need for labour on the job market in Copenhagen and the higher salaries offered in Denmark, as well as an increased immigration of Danes to the south of Sweden, were essential factors in the traffic increase.

[8] In 2006, 4,300 persons moved from the Danish part of the Øresund Region to Scania, attracted by lower Scanian real estate prices.

After the opening of the bridge in 2000, an 'Öresund identity' has been promoted in the region in order to counter-act various barriers to cross-border cooperation caused by nationalistic sentiments on both sides.

[10] In 1997, a consortium of twelve universities (four Swedish and eight Danish) from both sides of the Sound has been established, opening up all courses, libraries and other facilities to all students, teachers and researchers from the region.

[18] In 1997, an EU-funded EURORES project was launched in the region in order to promote a common labor market.

[19] As of April 2024, Greater Copenhagen Committee had the following 18 members:[20] 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 a lack of transparency of the rules for taxes, social security, pension and unemployment benefits.

People commuting to work over the border (Danish: grænsegænger, Swedish: gränsarbetare) had a problem receiving information of rules affecting them and sometimes risked paying double taxes.

Some of these problems have been solved after the recent years of political coordination between the countries, but the local tax authorities have difficulties implementing the complex rules for cross-border taxation.