Economic growth and labour productivity in Öresund
It is too early to speak of the Öresund region as a functionally integrated economic unit. However, the region has potential to become a significant economic centre if the economies of Öresund DK and Öresund SE were more powerfully linked. One measure of the economic potential of the Öresund region is that about 26 percent of Denmark’s and Sweden’s total GDP comes from these regions. In 2007 Öresund DK accounted for 48 percent of Denmark’s total GDP. The Capital Region of Denmark alone accounted for 37 percent and Region Zealand for 11 percent. Since 1993 the economic significance of the Capital Region of Denmark has also increased, measured as a share of Denmark’s GDP. In 2007 Öresund SE accounted for 11 percent of Sweden’s total GDP, which has been unchanged since 1993. Öresund DK accounts for two thirds of the total GRP for the Öresund region. However, when looking at growth in GRP and GRP per employed person, Öresund SE has had a stronger growth rate than Öresund DK during the period 1993-2007. This is also true in a comparison between Region Skåne, Region Zealand and the Capital Region of Denmark. During the period Öresund SE has had a real GRP growth of 58 percent compared to 42 percent in Öresund DK. Growth in GRP per employed person has been 39 percent in Öresund SE, compared to 24 percent in Öresund DK. One reason for the sharp economic growth in Öresund SE is that the economy turned sharply upwards during the second half of the 1990s, after a period of deep economic crisis. The strong growth of labour productivity is probably because Öresund SE has drastically transformed its business sector over the last 14 years. The weaker development in Öresund DK is most likely due in part to the international downturn in the beginning of the 2000s and in part because the region underwent a structural transformation earlier than in Öresund SE and thus could not reach the same productivity gains in later years.
- Growth in Gross Regional Product (GRP) and GRP per employed in Öresund DK and Öresund SE. 1993 – 2007 (Constant prices, reference year 2000)
Source: Statistics Denmark and Statistics Sweden. Calculations by Region Skåne
- GRP for each country’s currency (GRP in millions). Constant prices, reference year 2000.
Source: Statistics Denmark and Statistics Sweden. Calculations by Region Skåne.
- GRP per employed in each country’s currency. Constant prices, reference year 2000.
Source: Statistics Denmark and Statistics Sweden. Calculations by Region Skåne
