Denmark is one of the most attractive European countries for immigrants due to its high level of socio-economic and political development. However, an increase in the migration burden has led to a tightening of the country’s migration legislation, aimed primarily at limiting the flow of migrants from non-Western countries, preventing segregation, and ensuring the successful integration of migrants into the host society. This study aims to analyse the distribution of immigrants and their descendants in Denmark, focusing on migrants from African countries (Somalia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Eritrea) between 2010 and 2023. The authors examine legislative changes in Danish migration policy and analyse data from the Danish Statistical Office regarding migration trends and the geographic distribution of both the native population and individuals of foreign origin across second-level administrative units (communes). The research methodology employs the Herfindahl–Hirschman index to assess the degree of territorial concentration of people of African descent, alongside the Ryabtsev index to measure the similarity between the settlement patterns of migrants and their descendants from Africa and those of Denmark’s indigenous population. The results indicate a decrease in the territorial concentration of the African population in Denmark, as well as a convergence between the settlement patterns of African migrants and Danish-origin residents. However, the intensity of these processes varies significantly based on immigrants’ status, duration of residence in Denmark, and the size of specific African diasporas. Despite the observed deconcentration and increased settlement integration, the African population, particularly individuals of Somali and Moroccan descent, continues to exhibit high levels of territorial exclusion and segregation. Their settlement patterns are often concentrated in ‘vulnerable residential areas’, which still reflect significant socio-spatial disparities.

The article analyzes the role of religion in the context of the contemporary Finnish migration system. The European migration crises have become a national challenge for Finnish society. The integration of (im)migrants, whose ethnic and/or religious affiliation is often opposed to the value-based and ideological foundations of Finnish civic identity, is accompanied by a number of problems. The most significant of them is the escalation of racism and discrimina-tion against migrants by Finns and social structures. The Finnish Migration Service (MIGRI) has been confronted with an unprecedented number of religious conversions from Islam to Christianity by Muslim migrants who use religious conversion as a way to gain asylum or avoid deportation to their home countries on the grounds of a risk of religious persecution. The Ecumenical Council of Finland has criticized the ambiguity of the methods for assessing the credibility of religious beliefs of newly converted Christians. At the same time, the in-creasing number of decisions to deport aliens to unsafe areas has divided the Finnish public into those who support accepting asylum seekers from Muslim countries and those who support anti-immigration movements. An analysis of statistical data and empirical material in the works of Finnish researchers shows that religious conversion is a popular migration strategy despite its low efficiency, the manifestation of Islamophobia in Finnish society to-wards migrants with Muslim background and the possible negative consequences of religious conversion from Islam to Christianity. The authors conclude that religion is an important as-pect of social consolidation and integration of foreign cultural migrants, but the formation of religious identity in school education largely contributes to the opposition of ‘us’ and ethno-religious 'others' in Finnish society.

Despite the reunification of Germany taking place more than 30 years ago, the Eastern and Western federal states still have different attitudes toward foreign policy. This article explores the reasons and prerequisites for greater understanding and lower awareness of Russia in the eastern part of Germany. The author examines the correlation between East Germans’ percep­tion of Moscow and their political culture, as well as the economic ties between the Russian Federation and the new federal states. Using archival materials, newspapers from the former German Democratic Republic, interviews, and social surveys, the author tests the hypothesis that sympathy toward Russia in East Germany may be rooted in the shared history of the GDR and the USSR. The steady dissemination of Soviet culture and the Russian language, along with various personal and institutional contacts, made Russia seem less foreign and more familiar. Furthermore, both the GDR and the USSR avoided raising difficult questions about World War II that could have complicated mutual relations. The study also identifies differen­ces between memory politics in Germany and in several other former Eastern Bloc countries, which have influenced perceptions of Russia. Due to the nature of reunification and the rapid integration into Western organizations, reunified Germany did not construct the image of Russia as an antagonistic ‘Other’ to affirm its European identity.

In contemporary information societies, digital inequality among populations has become a significant challenge, impeding both social and economic progress. This study aims to investigate the convergence of digital inequality across 79 regions of Russia from 2014 to 2021, with a particular focus on the population’s access to information and communication technologies. Through the analysis of dispersion and Theil indices, the study reveals a trend of convergence and a growing uniformity in digital inequality indicators among the population of Russian regions over the observed period. Notably, there has been a relatively homogeneous distribution of digital inequality indicators across regions throughout this timeframe. The general trend of reduced dispersion signals a more stable and consistent dynamic of indicators across regions, suggesting enhanced stability and similar development trajectories. Moran dispersion diagrams for both 2014 and 2021 have enabled the identification of regional shifts between quadrants, highlighting progress in the trend towards reducing digital inequality among Russian regions. Regions initially characterised by lower levels of internet development have gradually advanced to higher quadrants in the Moran chart in subsequent years. This indicates a convergence process, wherein these regions are narrowing the gap with, or even surpassing, regions with more advanced internet development. This upward trend reflects the effectiveness of governmental policies and measures aimed at enhancing internet infrastructure and technological integration across the regions.