Demographics of Tunisia

Tunisia's population was estimated to be around 11.6 million in mid-2019.[1] In the generally youthful African continent, Tunisia's population is among the most mature. This is because the government has supported a successful family planning program that has reduced the population growth rate to just over 1% per annum, contributing to Tunisia's economic and social stability.[2] The population of Tunisia is primarily of Berber ancestral origin (>60%).[3]

Tunisia population pyramid in 2020
Tunisia's population (1961–2011).

Around 98 percent of the population are Muslim.[4] There is a Jewish population on the southern island of Djerba and Tunis. There also exists a small autochthonous group of Christian adherents.[5]

Population
Historical population
YearPop.±%
1960 4,220,701—    
1970 5,127,000+21.5%
1980 6,384,000+24.5%
1990 8,154,400+27.7%
2000 9,563,500+17.3%
2010 10,547,000+10.3%
2020 11,818,619+12.1%

Source: National Institute of Statistics[6] and United Nations Statistics Division[7]

Vital statistics
Average population Live births Deaths Natural change Crude birth rate (per 1,000) Crude death rate (per 1,000) Natural change (per 1,000) Population growth (annual %) Fertility rates
1948 111,084
1949 92,439
1950 106,235
1951 119,981
1952 105,469
1953 116,638
1954 119,774
1955 134,489
1956 140,505
1957 157,741
1958 181,144
1959 184,209
1960 4,220,701 182,221 43.2
1961 184,396
1962 181,861
1963 187,395
1964 206,046
1965 193,220
1966 206,717
1967 187,320
1968 188,190
1969 199,940
1970 5,127,000 186,360 36.3
1971 183,311
1972 199,121
1973 194,810
1974 194,600
1975 205,390
1976 208,040
1977 220,546
1978 207,342
1979 218,161
1980 6,384,000 225,165 35.2
1981 226,425
1982 219,393
1983 216,365
1984 227,052
1985 227,188
1986 234,736
1987 224,169
1988 215,069
1989 199,459
1990 8,154,400 205,315 25.2 5.6 19.6 2.236 3.38
1991 207,455 24.9 5.6 19.3 2.224 3.31
1992 211,649 24.9 5.5 19.5 2.183 3.27
1993 8,572,200 207,786 24.0 5.7 18.3 2.092 3.12
1994 8,785,700 200,223 22.7 5.7 17.0 1.936 2.90
1995 8,957,500 186,416 20.8 5.8 15.0 1.741 2.67
1996 9,089,300 178,801 40,817 137,984 19.7 5.5 14.2 1.543 2.51
1997 9,214,900 173,757 42,426 131,331 18.9 5.6 13.2 1.369 2.38
1998 9,333,300 166,718 42,571 124,147 17.9 5.6 12.3 1.214 2.23
1999 9,455,900 160,169 54,400 105,769 16.9 5.7 11.2 1.085 2.09
2000 9,552,500 163,089 17.1 5.6 11.4 0.981 2.08
2001 9,650,600 163,300 53,300 110,000 16.9 5.6 11.4 0.877 2.05
2002 9,748,900 163,011 16.7 5.8 10.8 0.787 2.00
2003 9,839,800 168,022 17.1 6.1 11.0 0.747 2.06
2004 9,932,400 166,551 16.8 6.0 10.8 0.771 2.02
2005 10,029,000 170,999 58,673 112,326 17.1 5.9 11.2 0.84 2.04
2006 10,127,900 173,390 57,000 116,390 17.1 5.6 11.5 0.93 2.03
2007 10,225,100 177,503 56,741 120,762 17.4 5.5 11.8 1.01 2.04
2008 10,328,900 182,990 59,975 123,015 17.7 5.8 11.9 1.059 2.06
2009 10,439,600 184,282 59,499 124,783 17.7 5.7 12.0 1.063 2.05
2010 10,547,100 196,039 60,438 135,601 18.6 5.7 12.9 1.035 2.13
2011 10,673,800 201,120 63,258 137,862 18.8 5.9 12.9 0.998 2.15
2012 10,777,500 217,738 63,257 154,481 20.2 5.9 14.3 0.794 2.4
2013 10,886,500 222,962 61,730 161,232 20.5 5.7 14.8 0.972 2.40
2014 10,982,754 225,887 62,785 163,102 20.5 5.7 14.8 1.002 2.42
2015 11,091,770 222,530 65,743 156,787 19.9 5.9 14.0 1.05 2.37
2016 11,233,561 219,013 62,433 156,580 19.4 5.5 13.9 1.103 2.31
2017 11,375,404 208,081 68,540 139,541 18.2 6.0 12.2 1.139 2.21
2018 11,551,448 201,495 67,464 134,031 17.5 5.9 11.6 1.146 2.17
2019 11,658,341 195,345 71,533 123,812 16.8 6.1 10.7 1.12
2020 11,818,619

Current vital statistics

[8]

  • Births from January to June of 2019 = 90,420
  • Births from January to June of 2020 = 75,970
  • Deaths from January to June of 2019 = 34,888
  • Deaths from January to June of 2020 = 31,130
  • Natural growth from January to June of 2019 = 55,532
  • Natural growth from January to June of 2020 = 44,840

2020 registration of births might me incomplete due to coronavirus restrictions in Tunisia.

Structure of the population

Structure of the population (Census 23.IV.2014):[9]

Age Group Male Female Total Percent
Total 5 472 333 5 510 420 10 982 753 100
0–4 505 509 466 662 972 171 8.85
5–9 440 644 408 362 849 006 7.73
10–14 407 938 381 684 789 622 7.19
15–19 421 716 405 792 827 508 7.53
20–24 459 814 465 595 925 409 8.43
25–29 449 932 484 685 934 617 8.51
30–34 477 322 506 459 983 781 8.96
35–39 397 594 419 392 816 986 7.44
40–44 357 353 370 495 727 848 6.63
45–49 331 283 351 673 682 956 6.22
50–54 324 423 326 185 650 608 5.92
55–59 268 380 266 788 535 168 4.87
60–64 212 900 212 524 425 424 3.87
65–69 127 168 135 135 262 303 2.39
70–74 107 097 113 584 220 681 2.01
75–79 81 732 85 164 166 896 1.52
80+ 101 528 110 241 211 769 1.93
Age group Male Female Total Percent
0–14 1 354 091 1 256 708 2 610 799 23.77
15–64 3 700 717 3 809 588 7 510 305 68.38
65+ 417 525 444 124 861 649 7.85

Population

The population of Tunisia is primarily of Berber ancestral origin (>60%).[3] Whilst the Ottoman influence has been particularly significant in forming the Turco-Tunisian community, other peoples have also migrated to Tunisia during different periods of time, including Sub-Saharan Africans, Greeks, Romans, Phoenicians (Punics), Jews, and French settlers. The Tunisian, by 1870 the distinction between the Arabic-speaking mass and the Turkish elite had blurred.[10] There is also a small purely Berber (1% at most)[11] population located in the Dahar mountains and on the island of Djerba in the south-east and in the Khroumire mountainous region in the north-west.

From the late 19th century to after World War II, Tunisia was home to large populations of French and Italians (255,000 Europeans in 1956),[12] although nearly all of them, along with the Jewish population, left after Tunisia became independent. The history of the Jews in Tunisia goes back some 2,000 years. In 1948 the Jewish population was an estimated 105,000, but by 2013 only about 900 remained.[13]

The first people known to history in what is now Tunisia were the Berbers. Numerous civilizations and peoples have invaded, migrated to, or have been assimilated into the population over the millennia, with influences of population from Phoenicians/Carthaginians, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Spaniards, Ottoman Turks and Janissaries, and French. There was a continuing inflow of nomadic Arab tribes from Arabia.[14]

After the Reconquista and expulsion of non-Christians and Moriscos from Spain, many Spanish Muslims and Jews also arrived. According to Matthew Carr, "As many as eighty thousand Moriscos settled in Tunisia, most of them in and around the capital, Tunis, which still contains a quarter known as Zuqaq al-Andalus, or Andalusia Alley."[15]

Life expectancy
Period Life expectancy in
Years		 Period Life expectancy in
Years
1950–1955 38.8 1985–1990 67.1
1955–1960 40.7 1990–1995 70.3
1960–1965 43.7 1995–2000 72.4
1965–1970 48.3 2000–2005 73.7
1970–1975 54.1 2005–2010 74.6
1975–1980 59.4 2010–2015 75.0
1980–1985 64.3

Source: UN World Population Prospects[16]

Genetics

Tunisians are predominantly genetically descended from native Berber groups, with some Phoenician/Punic and other Western European as well as Middle eastern input. Tunisians are also descended, to a lesser extent, from other North African and other European peoples. In sum, a little less than 20 percent of their overall genetic material (Y-chromosome analysis) comes from the present day Levant, Arabia, Europe or sub-Saharan Africa.[17][18]

"In fact, the Tunisian genetic distances to European samples are smaller than those to North African groups. (...) This could be explained by the history of the Tunisian population, reflecting the influence of the ancient Punic settlers of Carthage followed, among others, by Roman, Byzantine, Arab and French occupations, according to historical records. Notwithstanding, other explanations cannot be discarded, such as the relative heterogeneity within current Tunisian populations, and/or the limited sub-Saharan genetic influence in this region as compared with other North African areas, without excluding the possibility of the genetic drift, whose effect might be particularly amplified on the X chromosome.",[19][20] This suggests a fairly significant Middle Eastern and European input to Tunisian genetics compared to other neighbouring populations.

However, later research has suggested instead that Tunisians exhibit a mostly indigenous North African ancestral component similar to other Northwest African populations; characterized by a high amount of native Northwest African genes, but with higher Middle Eastern input than in Algeria or Morocco.[21]

Y-Chromosome

Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in Tunisia.[22]

Haplogroup n B E1a E1b1a E1b1b1 E1b1b1a3 E1b1b1a4 E1b1b1b E1b1b1c F G I J1 J2 K P,R R1a1 R1b1a R1b1b T
MarkerM33M2M35V22V65M81M34M89M201V88M269M70
Tunisia6010.170.50.671.6633.1662.731.162.660.170.1716.642.830.330.330.51.830.331.16

CIA World Factbook demographic statistics

The following demographic statistics are from the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.

Nationality

noun:Tunisian(s)
adjective:Tunisian

Vital Statistics

Fertility rates

2.17 children born/woman (2018 est.)

Population growth rate

0.95% (2018 est.)

Age structure

0-14 years: 25.25% (male 1,502,655 /female 1,405,310)
15-24 years: 13.53% (male 787,178 /female 770,929)
25-54 years: 43.25% (male 2,426,011 /female 2,554,253)
55-64 years: 9.75% (male 560,233 /female 562,436)
65 years and over: 8.22% (male 448,784 /female 498,400) (2018 est.)

Net migration rate

-0.41 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2010 est.)
-1.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2018 est.)

Urbanization

Urban population: 69.3% of total population (2019)
Rate of urbanization: 1.53% annual rate of change (2015–20 est.)

Sex ratio

At birth: 1.06 male(s)/female
0-14 years: 1.07 male(s)/female
15-24 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
25-54 years: 0.95 male(s)/female
55-64 years: 1 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.9 male(s)/female
total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2018 est.)

Infant mortality rate

Total: 11.7 deaths/1,000 live births (2018 est.)
Male: 12.8 deaths/1,000 live births
Female: 10.5 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth

Total population: 75.9 years (2018 est.)
Male: 74.3 years
Female: 77.6 years

Ethnic groups

Languages

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 81.8%
male: 89.6%
female: 74.2% (2015 est.)

The literacy rate among the Tunisian population increased greatly after its independence from France. According to the 1996 census data,[25] the literacy rate of the last generation of Tunisian men educated under the French rule (those born 1945–49) was less than 65%. For the first generation educated after independence (born 1950–1954), literacy in Arabic among males had increased to nearly 80%. (Sixty-two percent were also literate in French and 15 percent literate in English). Among the youngest generation included in the census (those born 1980–1984), 96.6% were literate in Arabic.

Among Tunisian women, the increase in literacy was even greater. The literacy rate among the last generation of women educated under the French was less than 30%. In the first generation educated after independence, this increased to just over 40%. For the youngest generation of women cited (born 1980–1984), literacy in Arabic had increased to slightly over 90%; over 70% of women were also literate in French.[26]

References
  1. "Tunisia". United States Department of State. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  2. "Tunisia (03/09/12)". US Department of State. 9 March 2012. Archived from the original on 13 October 2012.
  3. Tej K. Bhatia; William C. Ritchie (2006). The Handbook of Bilingualism. John Wiley & Sons. p. 860. ISBN 978-0631227359. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  4. "CIA – The World Factbook—Tunisia". Retrieved 2007-01-13.
  5. International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Tunisia. United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (September 14, 2007). This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  6. National Institute of Statistics – Tunisia
  7. "United Nations Statistics Division – Demographic and Social Statistics". United Nations Statistics Division. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  8. "Bulletin Mensuel de la Statistique, Mai 2020". Statistiques Tunisie. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  9. Division, United Nations Statistics. "UNSD—Demographic and Social Statistics". unstats.un.org. Retrieved 18 April 2018.
  10. Green, Arnold H. (1978), The Tunisian Ulama 1873–1915: Social Structure and Response to Ideological Currents, BRILL, p. 69, ISBN 978-90-04-05687-9
  11. "Q&A: The Berbers". BBC News. 12 March 2004. Retrieved 19 January 2013.
  12. Angus Maddison (20 September 2007). Contours of the World Economy 1–2030 AD:Essays in Macro-Economic History: Essays in Macro-Economic History. OUP Oxford. p. 214. ISBN 978-0-19-922721-1. Retrieved 26 January 2013.
  13. "The Jews of Tunisia". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 11 July 2014.
  14. Stearns, Peter N.; Leonard Langer, William (2001). The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged (6 ed.). Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. pp. 129–131. ISBN 978-0-395-65237-4.
  15. Carr, Matthew (2009). Blood and faith: the purging of Muslim Spain. The New Press. p. 290. ISBN 978-1-59558-361-1.
  16. "World Population Prospects – Population Division – United Nations". Retrieved 2017-07-15.
  17. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-04-14. Retrieved 2016-05-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  18. Cruciani, Fulvio; et al. (May 2004). "Phylogeographic Analysis of Haplogroup E3b (E-M215) Y Chromosomes Reveals Multiple Migratory Events Within and Out Of Africa". The American Journal of Human Genetics. 74 (5): 1014–1022. doi:10.1086/386294. PMC 1181964. PMID 15042509. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  19. The X chromosome Alu insertions as a tool for human population genetics: data from European and African human groups, Athanasiadis et al. 2007
  20. Tomas C, Sanchez JJ, Barbaro A, et al. (2008). "X-chromosome SNP analyses in 11 human Mediterranean populations show a high overall genetic homogeneity except in North-west Africans (Moroccans)". BMC Evol. Biol. 8: 75. doi:10.1186/1471-2148-8-75. PMC 2315647. PMID 18312628. Tunisians did not show a significant level of differentiation with northern populations as mentioned by others
  21. Benammar-Elgaaïed, Amel; Larruga, José M.; Cabrera, Vicente M.; Mahmoudi, Hejer Abdallah El; González, Ana M.; Khodjet-El-Khil, Houssein; Fregel, Rosa; Ennafaa, Hajer (2011). "Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome microstructure in Tunisia". Journal of Human Genetics. 56 (10): 734–741. doi:10.1038/jhg.2011.92. PMID 21833004.
  22. Bekada, A; Fregel, R; Cabrera, VM; Larruga, JM; Pestano, J; et al. (2013). "Introducing the Algerian Mitochondrial DNA and Y-Chromosome Profiles into the North African Landscape". PLOS ONE. 8 (2): e56775. Bibcode:2013PLoSO...856775B. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056775. PMC 3576335. PMID 23431392.
  23. "Africa :: TUNISIA". CIA The World Factbook.
  24. Arabic, Tunisian Spoken. Ethnologue (19 February 1999). Retrieved on 5 September 2015.
  25. As , Walters Keith (2003). "Fergie's prescience: the changing nature of diglossia in Tunisia". International Journal of the Society of Language. 163: 85–87.
  26. The children born in the early 1980s had not yet begun English instruction by the time of the 1996 census, so no literacy rate in English is given. However, the children born between 1970–74 (who had completed their education) had a literacy in English of 20%. It's highly likely that the younger generation's literacy in English was even higher at the conclusion of their schooling. Walters 86.
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