In this episode of the How to Live in Denmark podcast, host Kay Xander Mellish reflects on the opening of the Øresund Bridge in 2000, recalling a party he missed where Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden shared a hug and a kiss at the bridge’s midpoint. He describes how the bridge transformed the region: a half‑million cars now cross it each month and a train runs every 20 minutes, ferrying commuters who live in one country and work in the other. Mellish contrasts the impact of Swedish workers in Danish service roles—bringing cheerfulness and a “hello, can I help you?” attitude—with traditional Danish service that can feel brusque. He explains two main reasons Danes move to Sweden: cheaper housing (especially during the housing boom) and immigration workarounds for non‑EU partners, allowing couples to gain Swedish residency and later Danish rights. He also notes a cultural shift where Danes, who normally bike, buy cars in Sweden because of the country’s historic car industry and far lower vehicle taxes (Denmark’s tax on a new car is about 180%). The bridge has fostered cross‑border shopping (Swedish goods are generally cheaper, except alcohol) and education (Swedes attend Danish universities). Mellish then delves into culinary and lifestyle stereotypes—Danes eat rye bread and sausages, Swedes eat flatbread and meatballs—and characterises Danes as the “Latins of the North” versus Swedes as the “Prussians of the North”. He caps the episode with a humorous jab at Swedish men’s haircuts, calling the mullet the “Swedish hair” and noting a popular saying about a policeman inside every Swede and a criminal inside every Dane. The episode ends with a sponsor call‑out, contact information, and a plug for his How to Live in Denmark book.
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Hello and welcome to the How to Live in Denmark podcast. I'm Kay Xander Mellish. I don't regret many things in life, but I do regret not going to a party I was invited to almost 14 years ago. That was in 2000 when I first arrived in Denmark. It was a party to mark the opening of the Øresund Bridge, which connects Denmark and Sweden. There were no cars on the bridge yet, so you could easily walk or bike between these 2 countries that had been bitter enemies for hundreds of years. At one point, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who were both young and unmarried at the time, Met and shared a hug and a kiss in the center of the bridge, right across the national dividing line. Now that's a party. I won't be able to walk or bike across the Øresund Bridge anytime soon. A half million cars per month drive over it now, plus a train every 20 minutes full of commuters. Those commuters are Danes that live in Sweden and Swedes that work in Denmark. Personally, I love the Swedes who work in Denmark. A lot of them are in the service industry— restaurants, shop assistants— and they have revolutionized customer service in Denmark by being cheerful. They say things like, hello, and, can I help you? This is in contrast to traditional Danish service personnel, whose default approach is, are you still here? What do you want? And then, of course, there are the Danes living in Sweden. At the height of the housing boom, living in Sweden was much cheaper. People could buy a house in Sweden they could have never afforded in Denmark. The prices have leveled out a bit since, so now there are mostly two groups of Danes who move to Sweden. One is people who have a new foreign romantic partner, gay or straight, who cannot be admitted to Denmark under the restrictive Danish immigration laws. That basically means anyone from outside the EU. So American, African, Australian, Bolivian. The couple lives in Sweden for a couple of years, gets Swedish residency, and then they have the right to live in Denmark. The other group of Danes still moving to Sweden is people who love cars. Denmark, as you know, is bicycle country. Denmark has never had a car industry, which is one of the reasons that the tax on a new car in Denmark is 180%. and more and more streets in Copenhagen are being closed off to cars entirely. Sweden had a car industry. There's not much of it left— Saab is bankrupt and Volvo has been sold to the Chinese— but you can see the influence of that car industry as soon as you go over the bridge to Malmö. The streets are much wider, even in the newer parts of downtown. Swedish streets are built for cars. When a young Danish man moves to Sweden, often the very first thing he does is buy a car he could have never afforded in Denmark. The truth is, there are some ways that the bridge has— Danes buy vacation homes in southern Sweden. Swedes come to attend university in Denmark. Danes go shopping in Sweden because almost everything is cheaper there. As a matter of fact, the only thing cheaper in Denmark than in Sweden is alcohol. So they may be closer, but still, Swedes and Danes are very different people. Danes still eat rye bread. Swedes eat flatbread. Danes eat sausages. Swedes eat meatballs. And Danes, as cold as they may seem to outsiders, are still more outgoing than the Swedes. Among Scandinavians, Danes are sometimes called the Latins of the North. They know how to sit down, open a bottle of wine, and enjoy life. Swedes, on the other hand, are known as the Prussians of the North. They're tall, they stand up straight, they follow rules. And the men have terrible haircuts. Do you know that hairstyle known as the mullet in the US and the UK? It's that terrible 2-level haircut men used to have in maybe the '70s, '80s, '90s. The Ziggy Stardust— short in the front, long in the back. Or as it's sometimes said, business in the front, party in the back. The mullet. In Denmark, is known as Swedish hair. To Denmark, Sweden is a big brother with a terrible haircut. He's regimented. He's boring. He's stiff. He can't dance. There's a famous saying that inside every Swede is a little policeman trying to get out. But actually, that's only half the famous saying. Here's the whole thing: Inside every Swede. is a little policeman trying to get out, and inside every Dane there's a little criminal trying to get out. And that's the How to Live in Denmark podcast for this week. We're always looking for sponsors for the podcast. We get several thousand listeners every week, so if you know an ethical business that would like to have its message here, get in touch. We're on Facebook at How to Live in Denmark. You can reach us at howtoliveindenmark@gmail.com. Or you can tweet us @HowToLiveInDK. The 2 is a number. See you next week. Remember, the How to Live in Denmark book is available for download on Amazon.com. You can read it on any phone or tablet. All you need is the Kindle app, and the Kindle app is free. The book's not free, but it's not very expensive either. If you read the book and enjoy it, please leave a review on your local version of amazon.com. It helps other people find the book and find the podcast.
