Estonia has always been home to different people and the world has always been home to the Estonian people. Today*, there are people of 211 different nationalities living in Estonia. They speak 243 mother tongues, were born in 175 different countries, and hold citizenship of 151 countries. At the same time, 165,000–200,000 people of Estonian origin live around the world. The resulting diversity of communities is further enriched by the quirks that make each one of us unique.
It is the interplay of these distinctive traits at the individual and community level that gives rise to Estonia's cultural diversity. This value, which unites the people of Estonia, will be the focus of the framework for the theme year announced by the Ministry of Culture, the organisation of which has been entrusted to the Integration Foundation. The theme year is called the 'Cultural Diversity year' and its aim is to highlight how much we cherish both the cultural richness arising from the uniqueness of our communities and people, and Estonia as a traditionally culturally diverse society.
It's worth knowing!
> In the rankings of cultural diversity, Estonia is in 83rd position and is in the top ten of European countries. The World Population Review ranks 216 countries in terms of the diversity of the national population’s composition. Of European countries, only Luxembourg, Switzerland, Moldova, Belgium, Liechtenstein, Latvia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Monaco and Andorra surpass Estonia.
> In this century, the number of native languages spoken in Estonia has more than doubled. According to the 2000 census, residents spoke 109 different mother tongues, whereas the census held 21 years later recorded that 243 native languages were being spoken.
Back to website of the Culture Diversity Year
