Tunisia

Tunisia: population and cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, Since 1956 until today, Tunisia's population has more than tripled to around 11.7 million people. The initially rapid population growth has slowed since the 1990s, which is also due to the fact that today's Tunisia has the lowest birth rate in the entire Arab region.

The population growth is only around 1%. Actually, one should also add the approximately 1 million people who are currently abroad to the population. 85% of them live in Europe, with most of them having dual citizenship.

Ethnic groups

About 98% of the population of Tunisia are Arabs and Arabized Berbers. Furthermore, about 1% Berbers and minorities of French, Italian and Maltese live in the country.

Religions

The state religion of Tunisia is Islam. About 99% of the population are Muslim, mostly Sunnis. However, there are also minorities of Jews, Catholics and Protestants.

Overall, only about 0.2% of the population profess Christianity

National languages

A Tunisian dialect of Arabic is predominantly spoken in the country, as well as Berber languages and French.

Capital and other cities

Tunis

The capital of Tunisia is Tunis, with a population of around 2 million. The medina, the old town of Tunis, is well worth seeing. The largest in its extension and at the same time next to that of Kairouan best preserved old town in the country was built in the 9th/10th. Created by the Aghlabids and rebuilt by the Hafsids from the 13th century. The Turks added a number of buildings, especially in the 17th and 18th centuries. The total of around 700 historically significant buildings in the old town appear mostly inconspicuous from the outside and are not accessible. The villa suburb of Bardo in Tunis, created around a palace district founded by the Hafsids in 1420, is also well worth seeing. It was greatly expanded by the Turkish beys, especially in the 19th century.

Other bigger cities in Tunisia are:

Monastir

Monastir is one of the most famous cities in the country. Around 75,000 people live in the city, located in the south of the Gulf of Hammamet on the Mediterranean. The old town of Monastir is also very worth seeing.

Sousse

Sousse has about 180,000 residents. The port city is located in the north-west of the country on the Mediterranean coast. The Sousse Medina attracts thousands of tourists every year.

The old town is enclosed by a 2.25 km long stone city wall, which was built between 859 and 874 and of which three gates are still preserved. Other cities worth mentioning are:

- Sfax (Safaqs) with around 280,000 residents

- Ariana with around 240,000 residents

- Kairouan (Al-Qayrawan) with around 120,000 residents

- Biserta (Banzart)

- Gabés (Qabis) with around 110,000 residents each.

Tunisia: geography, map

Defined by DigoPaul, Tunisia is located in North Africa on the Mediterranean Sea and covers an area of 164,150 km². Thereof:

• Forest

  Around 3% of the country is forested.

• Meadow and pasture land

  Around 18% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.

• Savannah

  Around 23% of the country consists of savannah.

• Arable land and fields

  Around 30% of the land is used as arable land or fields.

• Desert

  About 45% of the country is covered by the Sahara desert.

Tunisia shares a border with the following two countries:

• Algeria with a length of 965 km
• Libya with a length of 459 km.

The length of the coast to the Mediterranean is around 1,150 km.

Longitude and latitude

Tunisia extends over the following geographical latitude (abbr. Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbr. Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Time

For Tunisia, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time (without summer time) in Germany, Austria and Switzerland:

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

Tunis lies at a northern latitude of around φ = 37 °.

If the sun or its image point is at the northern tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, summer starts in Tunis, this is June 21. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

37 ° = (90 ° - h) + 23.5 °

so:

At 76.5 °, the sun in Tunis has the highest level of the entire year above the horizon (more precisely: above the horizon).

The highest point of the sun in Tunis

mountains

The highest mountain in the country is Jabal al Shanabi (Jebel Chambi) with a height of 1,544 m. Other high mountains are:

• Jebel Bireno with a height of 1,419 m
• Jebel Mrhila with a height of 1,378 m
• Jebel Selloum with a height of 1,373 m
• Jebel Tiouach with a height of 1,363 m.

Rivers

The longest river in the country is the Medjerda with a length of 361 km. Another river in the country is the Zeroud.

Lakes

The country includes numerous more or less dried up salt lakes. The largest salt lake is the Chott el Jerid with an area of around 4,900 km². Another lake is the Sebkhet de Sidi el Hani.

Islands

The following islands are in front of the country:

Djerba as the largest island in North Africa with an area of 514 km², furthermore Chergui and Gharbi.

The Mediterranean

Tunisia borders the Mediterranean Sea in the north and east with a length of around 1,150 km.