Tennessean: Nashville is more culturally rich than you might think: 11 things you should know about Nashville’s diversity

With the Celebrate Nashville Cultural Festival taking place in Centennial Park on October 7, I thought it might be a good time to look at just how diverse we are as a community these days.

Here are 11 things you might not know about Nashville’s increasing diversity:

1. The Nashville Metro area is home to 139,703 immigrants.

2. Our metro area ranks No. 38 among the largest metro areas in terms of immigrant population share. By contrast, in the Memphis Metro area, 66,759 residents are foreign-born.

3. Just 2 percent of Nashville’s population was foreign-born in 2000. Now it’s more than 12 percent foreign-born.

4. More than 140 languages are spoken in Metro Schools, and 30 percent of students speak a language other than English at home.

5. Nashville Public Library’s collections include books and materials in 19 languages. Library staff members speak a total of 22 languages.

6. Nashville has the largest Kurdish population in the United States – about 15,000.

7. The Nashville Metro area has the 9th largest Laotian population in the country, with about 6,210.

Read the full story from the Tennessean: “Nashville is more culturally rich than you might think: 11 things you should know about Nashville’s diversity”