Malmö is the largest city of the Swedish county of Skåne County, the third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth-largest city in Scandinavia, with a population of 316,588 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 338,230 in 2018. The Malmö Metropolitan Region is home to over 700,000 people, and the Øresund Region, which includes Malmö, is home to 4 million people.

Malmö was one of the earliest and most industrialized towns of Scandinavia, but it struggled with the adaptation to post-industrialism. Since the construction of the Öresund Bridge, Malmö has undergone a major transformation, producing new architectural developments, supporting new biotech and IT companies, and attracting students through Malmö University and other higher education facilities. The city contains many historic buildings and parks, and is also a commercial center for the western part of Scania.