The municipality is part of Metropolitan Malmö and constitutes its own constituency in parliamentary elections in Sweden.

[5] After the formation of the municipality in 1971, the population was declining, but the trend reversed in the early 2000s and has continued to rise since then.

The municipality is located in the southwestern part of the province of Skåne with the Öresund in the west.

The coast has changed significantly since the beginning of the 20th century with the filling of the limestone quarry in Klagshamn.

At Oxie there is a more undulating landscape where sorted sediments form hills which are partly covered with cultivated clay and fertile moraine.

The area is the most important Swedish site for the very rare subspecies of Dunlin, Calidris alpina schinzii.

The rare moth Morris's wainscot (Chortodes morrisii) can be found in areas with reeds.

[10] Note that a small part of Malmö (Arlöv) is situated in Burlöv Municipality.

The municipality of Malmö has traditionally been governed by the Social Democrats since the introduction of universal suffrage in 1919, with the exception of two terms in 1985-1988 (the 1985 municipal elections broke a 66-year Social Democratic hold on power) and 1991-1994 when bourgeois coalitions ruled.