A predominantly urban population
Over 67% of the population lives in cities, and urbanization continues to progress. The capital Tunis and its governorate alone are home to no less than 1.056 million inhabitants, or just over 10% of the national population. The population is concentrated in the coastal regions, while some 30% live in the arid regions of the South and Centre, which account for 70% of the country's surface area. Sfax is Tunisia's second-largest city - 955,421 inhabitants were counted in its governorate in 2014. The population growth rate is close to 1.1% (2020). The fertility rate, at 2.17 children per woman (2019), is among the lowest in the Arab world, and has fallen in less than five years.
A command of European languages in addition to Arabic
The official language of Tunisia, and the mother tongue of almost all its inhabitants, is Arabic. This language, written from right to left, is difficult to learn. Each character is written in different ways, depending on whether it stands alone or is at the beginning, middle or end of a word. Only the 28 consonants are written, including semi-consonants, which have made it possible to eliminate the superfluous use of vowels. There are different variations of Arabic: the classical, "written" language is the language of the Koran, spoken by a small elite. The Maghreb dialect is the common language in Tunisia. This dialect has borrowed many words from the Berber, French and Spanish languages, and its pronunciation shows many differences from classical Arabic.
From 1958 onwards, President Bourguiba opted for widespread bilingual education, formalizing the dual Arabic-French culture. This enabled the country to retain its French-speaking status, while maintaining a wide openness to the Arab world. Today, children learn French at school from the age of 7-8. Arabic has thus gradually taken its rightful place, becoming the sole language of instruction in primary schools as early as 1975. But French remains the foreign language of choice for organizations directly dependent on the French government. These organizations do not hesitate to offer free language courses in Tunis and other major cities. French is therefore spoken and understood almost everywhere in Tunisia, especially in the more developed parts of the country and around tourist areas. However, knowledge of a few words of Arabic will always be greatly appreciated by Tunisians. It would take far too long to list all the words of Arabic origin that are used in the French language, but a sample will help you visualize the influence of this language on ours: chiffre, hasard, alchimie, sucre, cumin, camphre, guitoune, maboul, souk, toubib, un chouïa, kawa, nouba, sahel, cafard which comes from the word cafer, meaning "unbeliever", etc.
Traditions still firmly rooted
Anyone can see that a large proportion of the population speaks perfect French, and often has a solid grounding in English, Italian, Spanish and German. It is thus with a genius of its own that the society manages to weave links between tradition and modernism. Despite the country's economic and tourist development, Tunisians still deeply respect certain traditions, Ramadan being a typical example. Although women rarely wear the hijab, and young girls are a little more emancipated in the street, visitors are nevertheless advised to respect the country in which they find themselves, striving not to offend with excessively provocative dress or inappropriate actions. Conviviality is always the order of the day. Drinking mint tea with friends, entertaining one another, chatting for hours and even going to the hammam together - all these rituals are part of the Tunisian art of living.
Traditional values are based on a few basic principles: obedience to the father, holder of the authority over the family in which the wife also plays an essential role; honor, linked to the three essential values of the tribe, the clan and the family; keeping one's word, which, in the absence of a written document, was until recently equivalent to a moral and legal contract; hospitality towards anyone coming from afar; and freedom, a fundamental value since the Berbers' real name, "lmazighen", means "free men".
The Berber culture
This culture is deeply rooted in history and mentality. Arabized, but still Berber-speaking, Tunisians are the descendants of a people whose culture dates back to the Neolithic period. Today, they are all bilingual (Berber/Arabic), just as their ancestors have been since Antiquity (Berber/Punic, Berber/Latin). Their community represents less than 1% of the Tunisian population and is concentrated in the south-east of the country. Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer Berbers who respect their traditions, and the last descendants are trying to keep this culture as alive as possible. Nevertheless, vestiges of this culture can still be detected in attitudes and traditions, and on certain archaeological sites.
The societal and linguistic heritage of the Qur'an
Published in Arabic in 634, two years after the death of Mohammed, the Koran (Al Quran) is the only sacred book for Muslims. It consists of a mixture of doctrines drawn from the foundations of Islam, but also from those of the Jewish and Christian religions (in the Torah and the Gospel). The Koran simply repeats the words of God, instilled in Mohammed by the archangel Gabriel (Jibrâil). Its correct reading and knowledge are the foundation of traditional Muslim education (Koranic schools). Its avowed aim is to govern the social life of the community of believers, both militarily and politically, as well as religiously. This is why Islamic republics have flourished throughout the Muslim world (Iran, Pakistan...), based politically on the Koran. He also had a major historical impact on Arabic literature. He imposed the Arabic dialect as the language associated with the triumph of the doctrine.
