Have the Øresund bridge's benefits run both ways?

In the 25 years since the rail and road link from Copenhagen to Malmö opened, it seems one side has fared better than the other

- By Miranda Bryant COPENHAGEN and MALMÖ

After 19 years of commuting to Denmark from Sweden, Helen Sjögren is so used to crossing the bridge, she identifies as Scandinavian rather than Swedish. The researcher at a Danish pharmaceutical company lives in the Swedish university town of Lund with her three children but has become accustomed to Danish working practices, and the idea of working in Sweden is now difficult to imagine.

"Because I’m Swedish, colleagues would expect me to behave like a Swede. So I would be seen as rude - too direct to fit in Sweden," she said.

Danes, she has found, are much more direct, while Swedes seek consensus.

"I really like the Danish mentality and way of being." At work, she and her colleagues speak slightly adapted versions of Swedish and Danish so everybody can understand one another. One of her few misgivings is that her taxes go to Copenhagen rather than her own municipality, where her children have gone to school and where she uses the healthcare services.

In the quarter of a century since it opened on 1 July 2000, the bridge - known as Øresundsbroen or Öresundsbron depending on whether you are on the Danish or Swedish side of the strait - has not only opened up Copenhagen’s vast job market to largely rural southern Sweden, but changed the prospects and even identities of many who use it. The 16km rail and road link between Copenhagen and Malmö (which includes an 8km bridge, a 4km tunnel and a 4km artificial island) has also transformed the world’s perception of the region.