Country name: | Republic of Tunisia |
Government type: | Parliamentary republic |
Capital: | Tunis |
Administrative divisions: | 24 governorates |
Independence: | 20 March 1956 (from France) |
Legal system: | Mixed legal system of civil law, based on the French civil code and Islamic (sharia) law |
Total area: | Land 55,360 sq km, water 8,250 sq km, coastline 1,148 km, land boundaries 1,495 km |
Natural resources: | Petroleum, phosphates, iron ore, lead, zinc, salt |
Land use: | Agricultural land 64.8%, forest 6.6%, other 28.6% (2011 est.) |
Population: | 11,516,189(July 2018 est.) |
Ethnic groups: | Arab 98%, European 1%, Jewish and other 1% |
Languages: | Arabic (official, one of the languages of commerce), French (commerce), Berber (Tamazight) |
Religions: | Muslim (official; Sunni) 99.1%, other (includes Christian, Jewish, Shia Muslim, and Baha'i) 1% |
Age structure: | Median age 32 years, life expectancy 75.9 years, total fertility rate 2.17 children born/woman (2018 est.) |
Urbanization: | Urban population: 69.3% of total population (2019) |
Literacy: |
Total population: 81.8%, male: 89.6%, female: 74.2% (2015 est.)
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Unemployment: | Unemployment youth ages (15-24): 34.7% |
Tunisia's economy – structurally designed to favor vested interests – faced an array of challenges exposed by the 2008 global financial crisis that helped precipitate the 2011 Arab Spring revolution. After the revolution and a series of terrorist attacks, including on the country’s tourism sector, barriers to economic inclusion continued to add to slow economic growth and high unemployment.
Following an ill-fated experiment with socialist economic policies in the 1960s, Tunisia focused on bolstering exports, foreign investment, and tourism, all of which have become central to the country's economy. Key exports now include textiles and apparel, food products, petroleum products, chemicals, and phosphates, with about 80% of exports bound for Tunisia's main economic partner, the EU. Tunisia's strategy, coupled with investments in education and infrastructure, fueled decades of 4-5% annual GDP growth and improved living standards. Former President Zine el Abidine BEN ALI (1987-2011) continued these policies, but as his reign wore on cronyism and corruption stymied economic performance, unemployment rose, and the informal economy grew. Tunisia’s economy became less and less inclusive. These grievances contributed to the January 2011 overthrow of BEN ALI, further depressing Tunisia's economy as tourism and investment declined sharply.
Tunisia’s government remains under pressure to boost economic growth quickly to mitigate chronic socio-economic challenges, especially high levels of youth unemployment, which has persisted since the 2011 revolution. Successive terrorist attacks against the tourism sector and worker strikes in the phosphate sector, which combined account for nearly 15% of GDP, slowed growth from 2015 to 2017.
Tunis is seeking increased foreign investment and working with the IMF through an Extended Fund Facility agreement to fix fiscal deficiencies.