ABSTRACT This article analyses the personal spatiality of people with different economic and cultural backgrounds, using Estonia as an example of a ‘new’ EU country and Sweden as an example of an ‘old’ one. On the basis of survey data, the contacts, interest and feeling of cultural closeness of different cultures and the connections of these with socio-demographic variables, societal trust, and regional identities are analysed. The results show that personal spatiality is spread homogeneously over social groups in Sweden. In Estonia, personal spatiality differentiates socio-demographic groups and is related to general social trust. The society is separated into a personally ‘globalised’ group and a group that feels uncertainty in connection with EU enlargement and globalisation. In the new member states of the EU, cultural adaptation without overcoming transition trauma may cause cultural isolation, even xenophobia. Avoiding resistance against transcultural communication patterns contributes to the development of common values and interregional economic cooperation between EU member states.