Tunisia Population 2023 (Live)

According to the most recent projections, Tunisia’s population will continue to grow until 2058, when the population will plateau at about 13.96 million people. Following this plateau, the population will begin to slowly decline and reach 13.01 million by 2099.

Tunisia’s population growth rate from 2019 to 2020 is 1.06%. This rate will continue to decrease as Tunisia approaches its peak population in 2058. Tunisia’s fertility rate is just above the population replacement rate at 2.2 births per woman, which is declining slowly, and the country experiences negative net migration each year. These two factors will continue to bring down the population growth rate until it is zero and the population begins to decline in the years following.

In the 1960s, the Tunisian government introduced the first family planning program in Africa to decrease population growth to improve socio-economic development. The effects of this program are seen today with the decreasing population growth rate.

Tunisia Area and Population Density

Tunisia is located on the north coast of Africa along the Mediterranean Sea, with a surface area of 63,170 square miles (163,610 square kilometers). Tunisia is not a very densely populated nation. Using the 2019 population of 11.78 million people, the population density of Tunisia is 186.5 people per square mile (72.0 people per square kilometer), which ranks 110th in the world.

Largest Cities in Tunisia

Roughly two-thirds of Tunisian citizens live in urban areas, and the country has several sizable cities. The capital and largest city is Tunis, with a population of just over one million, and over 2 million in the greater metro area. The next largest Sfax with a population of 330,000. Other major cities with populations over 100,000 include Sousse, Ettadhamen, Kairouan, Gabes, Bizerte, Aryanah, Garsa, and El Mourouj.

Tunisia Demographics

Tunisia is mostly made up of people from distinct and mixed Berber and Arab descent. About 98% of the population identifies as Arabs, while just 1% are purely Berber and live in the Dahar mountains and the island of Djerba.

Between the late 19th century and through the 1950's, Tunisia had large populations of French and Italians, who combined made up 255,000 in 1956. Virtually all of the Europeans and the Jewish population left after the country gained independence. There was a history of Jews in the region going back 2,000 years. While the 1948 Jewish population was over 105,000, it was reduced to just 1,500 by 2003.

The Berbers are the first known inhabitants of the region, although today's Tunisia reflects many civilizations who have invaded, migrated to and been assimilated into the population over the last thousand years.

Tunisia Religion, Economy and Politics

Tunisia is an almost entirely Muslim country, with 99% of the population practicing the religion. In fact, it is the official religion of the country and the president is required to be Muslim. Nearly all of the Muslim population is Sunni, and a small indigenous population is Shia or Sufi. There are also small populations of Christians, Jews, and Baha'i - a religion from Egypt.

Since the national uprising in 2011 that changed Tunisia from a one-party state to a democracy, the economy has been in really good shape and continues to grow. Supported by the agriculture, services, electrical and mechanical industries- the economy has been growing at an increasingly fast rate to the impressive 3% growth rate of 2019.

Tunisia Population History

The country of Tunisia was a protectorate of France from 1883-1957 when they became a completely independent republic. During the period under French rule, however, Tunisia fought in the World Wars with the French. As the country grew towards the turn of the century, they became more and more democratic before holding their first multi-party elections in 1999.

In 2002, a synagogue was bombed by Al-Qaeda, killing 19 people, beginning years under the threat of terror, which ramped up in 2015 with a couple of deadly terrorist attacks- one killing 21, and the other killing 38- causing the closing of several extremist mosques.