This statistic shows the biggest cities in Tunisia in 2023. In 2023, approximately 600 thousand people lived in Tūnis, making it the biggest city in Tunisia.

In 2024, Tunis was the city with the largest population in Tunisia, with around 693,000 inhabitants. The cities of Sfax and Sousse followed with approximately 277,000 and 164,000 people, respectively. Other highly populated areas were Sousse, Kairouan, and Bizerte. Rapid urbanization in Tunisia and across Africa The Tunisian population is mostly concentrated in cities. In recent years, increasingly more people have migrated from rural areas to urban centers. In fact, having undergone rapid socio-economic and infrastructural development, cities generally offer a higher standard of living and more employment opportunities to the population. As a result, the share of people living in urban areas in the country has increased steadily, reaching almost 70 percent in 2021. Tunisia has one of the highest urbanization rates in Africa. On the continent, the most urbanized countries are Gabon and Libya, which record rates above 80 percent. In general, urbanization is increasing rapidly across Africa and is forecast to grow further in the coming years to reach 722 million people by 2026. A slowdown in population growth In 2023, the total population of Tunisia amounted to around 12 million. The number of inhabitants has risen in the last decade and is forecast to keep growing in the coming years, with the country’s population reaching 12.8 million people by 2030 and almost 14 million by 2050. Nevertheless, population growth has generally been declining in Tunisia. Decreasing natality and a high mortality rate are some factors contributing to this slowdown. For instance, the number of births dropped from 226,000 in 2014 to 173,000 in 2020. Moreover, the country has the highest death rate in the Maghreb region after Mauritania.

Population in the largest city (% of urban population) in Tunisia was reported at 28.85 % in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Tunisia - Population in the largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

Tunisia TN: Population in Largest City data was reported at 2,254,227.000 Person in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 2,218,261.000 Person for 2016. Tunisia TN: Population in Largest City data is updated yearly, averaging 1,396,315.500 Person from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2,254,227.000 Person in 2017 and a record low of 588,271.000 Person in 1960. Tunisia TN: Population in Largest City data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Tunisia – Table TN.World Bank: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the urban population living in the country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; ;

Population in largest city in Tunisia was reported at 2510673 in 2024, according to the World Bank collection of development indicators, compiled from officially recognized sources. Tunisia - Population in largest city - actual values, historical data, forecasts and projections were sourced from the World Bank on June of 2025.

Tunisia TN: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data was reported at 28.477 % in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 28.462 % for 2016. Tunisia TN: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data is updated yearly, averaging 30.919 % from Dec 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 37.552 % in 1960 and a record low of 28.110 % in 2004. Tunisia TN: Population in Largest City: as % of Urban Population data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Tunisia – Table TN.World Bank.WDI: Population and Urbanization Statistics. Population in largest city is the percentage of a country's urban population living in that country's largest metropolitan area.; ; United Nations, World Urbanization Prospects.; Weighted average;

Tunisia_Major_Cities

Graph and download economic data for Geographical Outreach: Number of Branches in 3 Largest Cities, Excluding Headquarters, for Commercial Banks for Tunisia (TUNFCBODCLNUM) from 2004 to 2015 about Tunisia, branches, banks, and depository institutions.

The city of Tabarka had the highest rainfall in Tunisia in 2020. That year, the area recorded around ***** millimeters of rainfall. The capital city, Tunis-Carthage, registered ***** millimeters of rain in the same year. On the other hand, the driest areas were Remada and El-Borma.

The cities of Medenine and Tozeur recorded the highest maximum temperature in Tunisia in 2020. That year, the areas recorded a peak of 46.7 degrees Celsius. On the other hand, the lowest maximum temperature in the country was registered in Mahdia at around 34.5 degrees Celsius.

Abstract

THE CLEANED AND HARMONIZED VERSION OF THE SURVEY DATA PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH FORUM REPRESENTS 100% OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEY DATA COLLECTED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS - TUNISIA (INS)

The National Survey on Household Budget, Consumption, and Standard of Living, 2005 is a quinquennial survey. It is the eighth survey of its kind that was carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in Tunisia. The seven previous surveys were conducted in 1968, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995 and 2000, concurrently with the preparatory work for the Tunisian development plans. The 2005 survey was conducted as part of the preparation work for the Tenth Development Plan (2007-2011). Its expected findings would allow assessing the progress made in the improvements of the living level & conditions of the population.

The survey aims at providing detailed information on the procurement of goods and services for consumption (food consumption as well as household access to community services of health and education). And its data was collected from direct observation of household consumption to allow for having the necessary elements to assess the situation & changes in the living standards & conditions of the households.

Thus, the 2005 survey tackles three major areas of study: 1 - Household expenditure and acquisitions during the survey period 2 - Food consumption and nutritional status of households. 3 - Household access to community services of health and education.

The objectives of the survey are: a- Identifying levels of expenditure on the household level: The survey aims to assess the levels of household expenditure .The total expenditure of the household, is not only an indicator of income, but it is also a quantitative assessment of the standard of living index.

b- Income distribution: Due to the absence of data on income distribution, the mass distribution of expenditure between the different categories of the population constitutes a first outline for the income distribution in the country.

c- Investigating the structure of expenditure: Detailed information collected on expenditures per product used to establish the structures of the household expenditure as well as the budget coefficients according to different levels of classifications of goods in the nomenclature of goods and services. These factors coefficients are particularly useful for revision and development of the weights of the Consumer Prices Index (CPI). It should also be noted that the change in expenditure structure is an indicator of the evolution of living standards.

d- Analysis of household demand: Household behavior in terms of product demand is synthesized by the coefficients of income elasticity which, according to the model of consumption retained and under the assumptions of the growth of income and population, allows predicting future household demand.

e- Resources-use balance in the national accounts: The results related to the consumption by product are necessary elements for the development of balanced resource-use of products in the frame of national accounts.

The raw survey data provided by the Statistical Agency were cleaned and harmonized by the Economic Research Forum, in the context of a major project that started in 2009. During which extensive efforts have been exerted to acquire, clean, harmonize, preserve and disseminate micro data of existing household surveys in several Arab countries.

Geographic coverage

Covering a sample of all urban, small and medium towns and rural areas.

Analysis unit

1- Household/family. 2- Individual/person.

Universe

The survey covered a national sample of households and all individuals permanently residing in surveyed households.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

THE CLEANED AND HARMONIZED VERSION OF THE SURVEY DATA PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH FORUM REPRESENTS 100% OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEY DATA COLLECTED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS - TUNISIA (INS)

Sampling method

The National Survey on Household Budget, Consumption and Standard of Living, 2005 has focused initially on a sample of 13,392 households representing 0.61% of total households in the country (61 surveyed household for every 10,000 household) . This sample is distributed across 1116 districts covering all the country governorates, cities, urban and rural areas. The sample was also equally divided on the months of the survey year to take the seasonal changes in household expenditure into account.

These households were drawn using a two stages stratified random sampling in each governorate. The sampling frame follows that of the general Census of Population and Housing in 2004.

Stratification criteria: The sampling frame is stratified by two geographical criteria: namely the governorate and the living area. The latter is stratified as follows: large municipalities, medium and small towns, major cities and the rest of the non-municipal areas. These stratification criteria (governorate, habitat and size of municipalities) represent the differentiation variable of lifestyles households. Strata used are as follows:

Stratum of large cities (stratum 1): the municipalities of the city of Tunis and its suburbs, the city of Bizerte and its suburbs, the city of Sousse and its suburbs, the city of Kairouan and its suburbs, the city Sfax and its suburbs, and the general Gabes. Thus, this stratum is formed of large urban centers corresponding to municipalities with more than 100.000 inhabitants and neighboring municipalities.

Stratum of other cities (stratum 2): This is all small and medium sized cities other than those classified in the stratum of large cities.

Stratum of the main cities (stratum 3): These are non-municipal urban areas classified as major cities during the general census of population and housing 2004 (with a population of more than 70 households).a city is considered a main city if the number of its inhabitants exceeds 400 during the census of 2004.

Stratum dispersed outside communes (stratum 4): These are areas of land located outside the main towns and cities. Households in these areas live in houses scattered or grouped in small towns.

This strata classification is closely related to the levels of household income and lifestyle.

Survey type:

The sampling frame is divided on the level of each governorate according to strata previously defined. It was set, at the level of each stratum, to make a two-stage random sampling for the selection of the household survey sample. This drawing process allows to breakdown the sample into clusters of 12 households relatively little distant from each other, thereby facilitating the conduct of the survey at the time of the information collection in the field

In the first stage: a sample of primary units is drawn in proportion to their size in number of households as they were identified. Taking into consideration that the primary units correspond to the districts that have been defined in the census of the population and these geographic areas contain on average 70 households.

In the second stage: in each sampled district, 12 households are selected according to the following method: The households in each sampled district are classified primarily according to the number of employed persons in the household. Within each category of classified households, households are also classified according to the number of persons in each household. A systematic sampling is then performed to select 12 sampled households per primary unit (sampled district). For each sampled district, another 12 households are drawn according to the same previously illustrated criteria. These households serve as a substitutive sample so that in case the interviewer failed to get in contact with the originally selected household (due to long absence- change of place of residence) , after coordinating with the supervisor, this household can be replaced by one from the substitutive sample. For this purpose, two lists of the names of head of households were developed (original list, substitutive list) that the survey is supposed to cover.

Distribution of districts and households sampled by governorates

This horizontal bar chart displays carbon dioxide emissions (CO2) (Mt of CO2 equivalent) by capital city using the aggregation sum in Tunisia. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

Living and housing situation in rural municipalities in Tunisia and the influence of television on the rural population.

Topics: knowledge of selected personalities from the areas of politics, sport and music; preferred names for children (index of modernity); children or grandchildren without work; preferred occupation for sons or grandchildren; unmarried children; preferred place of residence for children after marriage; personal marriage; preferred place of residence after personal marriage; importance of owning selected pieces of furniture and consumer goods as well as objects from the area of home furnishing; attitude to life in a large European or American city as dangerous; knowledge of a person who spent time in Europe in the last year; judgement of the life of politicians as easy or difficult; judgement on the housing situation in the city; preferred dress style for men; preferred occupations (index of modernity); attitude to family planning; personal opinion leadership in the city; assumed frequency of selected activities of politicians; frequency of political discussions about the Tunisian government; unmarried daughters; attitude to employment of a daughter in a modern city hotel; judgement on personal housing situation; observing obligatory prayer within the family; preferred dress style for women; perceived changes in living conditions in the region; time of last visit of a welfare worker to the city; ownership of a television set by the most politically aware people in the city; judgement on life in a large Tunisian city; political discussion partners; assumed attitude of Islam to birth control; frequency of watching television and the use of programs in French and Arabic; location of television; social position of television as well as number of people present; main television partner; length of watching television; frequency of watching selected television programs; ownership of television; preferred place to watch television; frequency of discussions about television programs; judgement on television programs as suitable for the whole family; ownership of television and radio by friends and neighbors; frequency and length of use of radio; ability to read; frequency of reading magazines; preferred medium for information on politics, sport as well as topics from the areas of culture, religion and education; preference for personal participation in political, religious, musical and sporting events or watching them on television; marital status; size of household; education level; employment status; occupation; ownership of selected pieces of furniture, consumer goods and articles of decoration; frequency of leaving the city.

Additionally encoded were: respondent´s place of residence; place of interview; presence of third party during interview; date of interview; length of interview; interviewer identification.

Abstract

THE CLEANED AND HARMONIZED VERSION OF THE SURVEY DATA PRODUCED AND PUBLISHED BY THE ECONOMIC RESEARCH FORUM REPRESENTS 100% OF THE ORIGINAL SURVEY DATA COLLECTED BY THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STATISTICS - TUNISIA (INS)

The National Survey on Household Budget, Consumption, and Standard of Living is a quinquennial survey. The 2010 survey is the ninth of its kind that was carried out by the National Institute of Statistics (INS) in Tunisia. The eight previous surveys were conducted in 1968, 1975, 1980, 1985, 1990, 1995, 2000 and 2005, concurrently with the preparatory work for the Tunisian development plans.

The survey aims at providing detailed information on the procurement of goods and services for consumption. Its data was collected from direct observation of household consumption to allow for having the necessary elements to assess the situation & changes in the living standards & conditions of the households.

The National Survey on Household Budget, Consumption, and Standard of Living consists of three fundamental parts; the budget survey, the nutrition survey and the access to community services survey. Thus, it tackles three areas of study: 1- Households expenses and acquisitions during the survey period. 2 - Food consumption and nutritional status of households. 3 - Household access to health and education community services.

The main objectives of the "budget survey" are: a- Estimate the levels of expenditure on the household level: The total expenditure of the household is not only an indicator on household income, but it is also a quantitative assessment of the standard of living index. b- Evaluate the income distribution: Due to the absence of data on income distribution, the mass distribution of expenditure between the different categories of the population constitutes a first sketch for the income distribution in the country. c- Assess the structure of expenditure: Detailed information collected on expenditures per product are used to establish the structures of the household expenditure, as well as the budget coefficients according to different levels of classifications of goods and services. These coefficients are particularly useful in the revision and development of the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) weights. d- Predict the demand of households: The household behavior, assessed in terms of product demand, is synthesized by the coefficients of income elasticity, which, according to the model of consumption retained and under the assumptions of the growth of income and population, allows predicting future household demand. e- Analyze the importance of consumer subsidies: analysis of the consumption of subsidized goods by expenditure deciles allows identifying the impact of direct consumer subsidies. It also allows evaluating the effectiveness of public policies grants.

The main objectives of "the nutrition survey" are: a- Provide estimates of food consumption by product for different groups of households according to their demographic and socio-economic characteristics. b- Estimate food consumption of each product by collecting data on the quantities consumed of each product by source, whether purchased or own produced. c- Identify the nutritional status of the population according to its demographic, geographic and socio-economic level. The comparison between the standards needs of nutrients to those acquired by the household enables assessing of the nutritional status and thus deficits in different nutrients such as calories, protein, vitamins, calcium, ... can also be captured. d- Estimate the calorie intake and energy needs of the Tunisian population: This estimate is indispensible in the calculation of the food component of the poverty line and, in consequence, the threshold of global poverty.

The main objective of "the access to community services survey" is to provide an overview on the state of morbidity of the Tunisian population, from one hand, and on the households' access to various health and education public services on other hand.

The raw survey data provided by the Statistical Agency were cleaned and harmonized by the Economic Research Forum, in the context of a major project that started in 2009. During which extensive efforts have been exerted to acquire, clean, harmonize, preserve and disseminate micro data of existing household surveys in several Arab countries.

Geographic coverage

Covering a sample of all urban, small and medium towns and rural areas.

Analysis unit

1- Household/family. 2- Individual/person.

Universe

The survey covered a national sample of households and all individuals permanently residing in surveyed households.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Sampling method

The National Survey on Household Budget, Consumption and Standard of Living, 2010 has focused initially on a sample of 13,392 households drawn using a two stages stratified random sampling in each governorate. The sampling frame follows that of the General Census of Population and Housing in 2004 which was updated during the implementation of the National Population and Employment Survey in 2009.

Stratification criteria: The sampling frame is stratified by two geographical criteria: namely the governorate and the living area. The latter is stratified as follows: large cities, medium and small cities, and non-communal areas.

These stratification criteria (governorate, living area and size of city) represent variables that differentiate between surveyed households' lifestyles. Thus, the 3 strata types used are as follows:

Stratum of large cities (stratum 1): This stratum is formed of large urban centers corresponding to municipalities with more than 100.000 inhabitants and neighboring municipalities.

Stratum of medium and small cities (stratum 2): This stratum includes all medium and small sized cities other than those classified in the stratum of large cities.

Stratum of non-communal areas (stratum 3): It includes agglomerations in rural areas that are classified as major agglomerations in the General Census of Population and Housing 2004 and the National Population and Employment Survey in 2009. In addition to other areas that are located outside the territory of main municipalities and cities. 

Households in these areas reside in scattered dwellings or are grouped in small agglomerations.

Survey type

The sampling frame is divided on the level of each governorate according to strata previously defined. On the stratum level, a two-stage random sampling is planned for the selection of the survey sample of households. This process allows to breakdown the sample into clusters of 12 households relatively little distant from each other, thereby facilitating the conduct of the survey at the time of the information collection in the field.

In the first stage, a sample of 1,116 primary units is drawn in proportion to the number of households identified in the 2009National Population and Employment Survey. Taking into consideration that the primary units correspond to the districts that have been defined in the General Census of Population and Housing in 2004, which are geographic areas comprising on average 70 households.

In the second stage, from each primary unit (or cluster), twelve households are drawn through a simple random sampling technique. A substitutive sample of 12 additional households is further drawn from each primary unit. Those additional households constituting a substitutive list are used to cover for unidentified households at the time of the survey, given the mobility of households and the period between the date on which the sample is drawn and the date on which the survey is conducted.

Sample size

The size of the sample drawn in the first stage is 1,116 primary sampling units (PSU) corresponding to 13,392 households. The samples in the second stage are 12 households per primary unit. To optimize the use of logistic and material resources available, a sample of at least 36 PSU was selected from the less populated governorates, 3 PSU per month (the survey is conducted over a 12 months period). This represents the monthly work of the survey team (3 interviews and 1 supervisor to whom a car is assigned). Moreover, as the number of households varies from one governorate to another, it was agreed to adopt different rate of sampling from one governorate to another.

The following table shows the regional distribution of the sample and the corresponding sampling rates.

Regional Distribution of the Survey Sample

Living and housing situation in rural municipalities in Tunisia and the influence of television on the rural population.

Topics: knowledge of selected personalities from the areas of politics, sport and music; preferred names for children (index of modernity); children or grandchildren without work; preferred work for sons or grandchildren; unmarried children; preferred place of residence for the children after marriage; personal marriage as well as previous marriage; preferred place of residence after personal marriage; importance of owning selected pieces of furniture and consumer goods as well as objects from the area of home decoration; attitude to life in a large European or American city as dangerous; knowledge of a person who spent time in Europe in the last year; judgement on the life of politician as easy or difficult; judgement on the housing situation in the city; preferred dress style for men; preferred occupations (index of modernity); attitude to family planning; personal opinion leadership in the city; assumed frequency of selected activities of politicians; frequency of political discussions about the Tunisian government; unmarried daughters; attitude to employment of a daughter in a modern city hotel; judgement on personal housing situation; observing obligatory prayer within the family; preferred dress style for women; perceived changes in living conditions in the region; time of last visit of a welfare worker to the region; ownership of a television set by the most politically aware people in the city; judgement on life in a large Tunisian city; interest in a discussion with a politician about personal problems; political discussion partners; assumed attitude of Islam to birth control; frequency of watching television as well as use of television programs in French and Arabic; place of television; social situation of television as well as number of people present; main television partner; length of watching television; frequency of watching selected programs; ownership of television; the right of wife and children to watch television in the absence of the head of household; preferred place to watch television; frequency of discussions about television programs; judgement on television program as suitable for the whole family; ownership of television and radio by friends and neighbors; length and frequency of use of radio; ownership of a radio; ability to read; frequency of reading magazines; marital status; size of household; education level; employment status; occupation; ownership of various objects of decoration, consumer goods and pieces of furniture.

Additionally encoded were: respondent´s place of residence; place of interview; presence of third party during the interview; date of interview; length of interview; interviewer identification.

TN：最大城市人口在12-01-2017达2,254,227.000人，相较于12-01-2016的2,218,261.000人有所增长。TN：最大城市人口数据按年更新，12-01-1960至12-01-2017期间平均值为1,396,315.500人，共58份观测结果。该数据的历史最高值出现于12-01-2017，达2,254,227.000人，而历史最低值则出现于12-01-1960，为588,271.000人。CEIC提供的TN：最大城市人口数据处于定期更新的状态，数据来源于World Bank，数据归类于Global Database的突尼斯 – 表 TN.世界银行：人口和城市化进程统计。

In 2024, the capital city of Tunisia, Tunis, was the safest city in Africa. It had a score of roughly **** points in the safety index, making it the African city with the lowest crime incidents. Cairo, in Egypt, and Algiers, in Algeria followed.