Demographics of Tunisia

Tunisia's population (1961-2011).

Hailing from Tunisia, the majority (99% ^[1]) of modern Tunisians are of Arab-Berber heritage, and are speakers of Tunisian Arabic. However, there is also a small minority of non-Arabized Berbers (1 percent at most). They primarily inhabit the Jebel Dahar mountains, which are located toward the southeast and on the island of Djerba. The Berbers predominantly speak Berber languages, often called Shilha or Tashlihit,^[2] or have shifted to speaking Tunisian Arabic.

Nearly all Tunisians (99 percent of the population) are Muslim.^[3] There is a Jewish population on the southern island of Djerba and Tunis. There also exists a small autochthonous group of Christian adherents.^[1]

Population

Historical population
Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1960	4,220,701	—
1970	5,127,000	+1.96%
1980	6,384,000	+2.22%
1990	8,154,400	+2.48%
2000	9,563,500	+1.61%
2010	10,547,000	+0.98%
2013	10,886,500	+1.06%
2014	10,982,754	+0.88%

Source: National Institute of Statistics^[4] and United Nations Statistics Division^[5]

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)	Fertility rates
1990					25.2	5.6	19.6	3.38
1991					24.9	5.6	19.3	3.31
1992					24.9	5.5	19.5	3.27
1993	8 572 200				24.0	5.7	18.3	3.12
1994	8 785 700				22.7	5.7	17.0	2.90
1995	8 957 500				20.8	5.8	15.0	2.67
1996	9 089 300				19.7	5.5	14.2	2.51
1997	9 214 900				18.9	5.6	13.2	2.38
1998	9 333 300				17.9	5.6	12.3	2.23
1999	9 455 900				16.9	5.7	11.2	2.09
2000	9 552 500				17.1	5.6	11.4	2.08
2001	9 650 600				16.9	5.6	11.4	2.05
2002	9 748 900	163 011			16.7	5.8	10.8	2.00
2003	9 839 800	168 022			17.1	6.1	11.0	2.06
2004	9 932 400	166 551			16.8	6.0	10.8	2.02
2005	10 029 000	170 999	58 673	112 326	17.1	5.9	11.2	2.04
2006	10 127 900	173 390	57 000	116 390	17.1	5.6	11.5	2.03
2007	10 225 100	177 503	56 741	120 762	17.4	5.5	11.8	2.04
2008	10 328 900	182 990	59 975	123 015	17.7	5.8	11.9	2.06
2009	10 439 600	184 282	59 499	124 783	17.7	5.7	12.0	2.05
2010	10 547 100	196 039	60 438	135 601	18.6	5.7	12.9	2.13
2011	10 673 800	201 120	63 258	137 862	18.8	5.9	12.9	2.15
2012	10 777 500	217 738	63 257	154 481	20.2	5.9	14.3	2.38
2013	10 886 500	222 962	61 730	161 232	20.5	5.7	14.8	2.41
2014	10 982 754	225 887	62 785	163 102	20.5	5.7	14.8	2.42

Source: National Institute of Statistics^[4]

Genetic

While the vast majority of modern Tunisians identify themselves as Arabs, they are predominantly descended from Berber groups, with some Arab input. Tunisians are also descended, to a lesser extent, from other African, Middle Eastern and European peoples, specifically the Phoenicians/Punics, Romans, Vandals, Greeks, Hispanic, Italians, Turkic, Haratin, and French. In sum, a little less than 20 percent of their genetic material (Y-chromosome analysis) comes from present day Arabian Peninsula, Europe or Sub-Saharan Africa.^{[6][7] [8]}

"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.",^[9][10] This suggests a fairly significant European input to Tunisian genetics compared to other neighbouring populations.

However, later research has suggested instead that Tunisians exhibit a mostly indigenous North African genetic make up similar to other Maghreb populations; characterized by a high amount of native North African genes.^[11]

Y-Chromosome

Listed here are the human Y-chromosome DNA haplogroups in Tunisia.^[12]

Haplogroup

n

B

E1a

E1b1a

E1b1b1

E1b1b1a3

E1b1b1a4

E1b1b1b

E1b1b1c

F

G

I

J1

J2

K

P,R

R1a1

R1b1a

R1b1b

T

Marker

M33

M2

M35

V22

V65

M81

M34

M89

M201

V88

M269

M70

Tunisia

601

0.17

0.5

0.67

1.66

3

3.16

62.73

1.16

2.66

0.17

0.17

16.64

2.83

0.33

0.33

0.5

1.83

0.33

1.16

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

Age structure

0–14 years: 22.2% (male 1,213,664/female 1,137,084)

15–64 years: 70.5% (male 3,759,955/female 3,704,677)

65 years and over: 7.3% (male 358,447/female 415,198) (2010 est.)

0-14 years: 23.2% (male 1,274,348/female 1,193,131)

15-64 years: 69.3% (male 3,638,014/female 3,728,294)

65 years and over: 7.5% (male 390,055/female 405,344) (2011 est.)

Net migration rate

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

-1.78 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2012 est.)

Urbaniziation

urban population: 67% of total population (2010)

rate of urbanization: 1.5% annual rate of change (2010-15 est.)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female

under 15 years: 1.07 male(s)/female

15-64 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.96 male(s)/female

total population: 0.99 male(s)/female (2012 est.)

Infant mortality rate

22.5 deaths/1,000 live births (2010 est.)

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 75.24 years

male: 73.2 years

female: 77.42 years (2012 est.)

Ethnic groups

• Arab 98% ^[13]
• European 1% ^[13]
• Jewish and Other 1%^[13]

Religions

(see Religion in Tunisia)

• Islam (official; Sunni) 99.1%^[13]
• Other (includes Christian, Jewish, Shia Muslim, and Baha'i) 1%^[13]

Languages

• Arabic (official, one of the languages of commerce)^[13]
• French (commerce)^[13]
• Berber (Tamazight)^[13]

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write
total population: 74.3%
male: 83.4%
female: 65.3% (2004 est.)

The literacy rate among the Tunisian population increased greatly after its independence from France. According to the 1996 census data,^[14] 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.^[15]

References

1. 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.
2. "Tunisia". Ethnologue.
3. "CIA – The World Factbook — Tunisia". Retrieved 2007-01-13.
4. National Institute of Statistics - Tunisia
5. "United Nations Statistics Division - Demographic and Social Statistics". United Nations Statistics Division. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
6. http://www.hpgl.stanford.edu/publications/AJHG_2004_v74_p1023-1034.pdf
7. 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. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
8. Luis JR, Rowold DJ, Regueiro M, et al. (March 2004). "The Levant versus the Horn of Africa: evidence for bidirectional corridors of human migrations". Am. J. Hum. Genet. 74 (3): 532–44. doi:10.1086/382286. PMC 1182266. PMID 14973781.
9. The X chromosome Alu insertions as a tool for human population genetics: data from European and African human groups, Athanasiadis et al. 2007
10. 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
11. "Mitochondrial DNA and Y-chromosome microstructure in Tunisia".
12. 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. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0056775
13. "Africa :: TUNISIA". CIA The World Factbook.
14. As , Walters Keith (2003). "Fergie's prescience: the changing nature of diglossia in Tunisia". International Journal of the Society of Language. 163: 85–87.
15. 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.