A few years ago, the thought of obtaining authentic Jamaican or Thai food in Fayette County was unthinkable. But the increase of ethnic restaurants confirms what a regional snapshot from the Atlanta Regional Commission confirmed last week: Fayette’s population is becoming far more diverse.

In fact, Fayette now boasts a non-white population of 26 percent, which is the highest in nearly a half century. The 1960 Census shows the county then had a 29.6 percent minority population.

Fayette’s new-found diversity mirrors the rest of the metro Atlanta area, where 75 percent of growth in the 20-county region has come from non-white population.

The biggest growth between 2000-2006 was in the African-American population, which added 371,000 in the region during the six-year period.

In Fayette, the African-American population nearly doubled during the six year span, from 10,446 to 18,885.

Fayette’s Asian population jumped from 2,228 to 3,353, while the Hispanic population grew from 2,582 in 2000 to 4,032 in 2006.

From 2000-2006, Fayette’s white population grew 5.3 percent, while non-white population increased 70.4 percent.

Fayette’s black population now is higher than neighboring Coweta County, as a percentage of the total population.

Fayette’s black population is 17.9 percent, while Coweta’s stands at 17 percent.

Coweta’s white population increased 26.6 percent from 2000-2006, while the non-white population increased 38.3 percent.

The snapshot offers a picture of how dramatically Fayette County has changed demographically in the last 20 years.

In 1980, blacks made up only 4.4 percent of the population and 5.4 percent of the population in the 1990 Census. By 2000,black population had increased to 11.6 percent and continues its upward growth.

With an increase in population, there is also an increase in services and presentation requested.

The biggest cluster of Fayette’s black population lies in northern Fayette County, and for years residents petitioned for recreational facilities in their portion of the county.

That mission was accomplished with the opening of Kenwood Park last year, but the goal that many blacks have sought for years, district voting, has fallen short of passing the last few years.

Coweta County is also seeing the results of a huge population increase, especially a more affluent growth on the eastern side of the county.

Dillard’s picked Newnan for only its second store south of Interstate 20, and developer Tom Reese’s plans for a huge upscale shopping and residential area, McIntosh Village, are still on the drawing board.

In Senoia, where the population jumped 71.7 percent from 2000-2006, a new downtown is being created and $300,000 lofts and $750,000 brownstones are set to rise on the site of an old cotton gin.

Fayette County now ranks as the state’s 23rd most populated African-American county, while Coweta County has the 22nd largest African-American population.