1985 Edition
CIA World Factbook 1985 (Internet Archive)
Geography
Agriculture
main crops — cereals (barley and wheat), olives, grapes, citrus fruits, and vegetables
Area
163,610 km2; about the size of Missouri; 43% desert, waste, or urban; 28% arable and tree crop; 23% range and esparto grass; 6% forest
Branches
executive dominant; unicameral legislative (National Assembly) largely advisory; judicial, patterned on French and Koranic systems
Budget
(1984 prelim.) total revenues, $2.88 billion; operating budget, $2.5 billion; capital budget, $1.0 billion
Capital
Tunis
Coastline
1,143 km (includes offshore islands) People
Communists
a small number of nominal Communists, mostly students; Tunisian Communist Party legalized in July 1981
Elections
national elections held every five years; last elections 1 November 1981 Political party and leader: Destourian Socialist Party is official ruling party; two small parties — Movement of Social Democrats and Movement of Popular Unity — legalized in
Electric power
1,070,000 kW capacity (1984); 3.271 billion kWh produced (1984), 454 kWh per capita
Ethnic divisions
98% Arab, 1% European, less than 1% Jewish
Exports
$1.5 billion (f.o.b., 1984); 51% crude petroleum, 17% textiles, 15% phosphates and chemicals, 5% other
GNP
$8.3 billion (1984 est), $1,150 per capita (1982); 57% private consumption, 16% government consumption, 29% gross fixed capital formation; average annual real growth (198083), 4%
Government leaders
Habib BOURGUIBA, President (Prime Minister in 1956; President since 1957; President for Life since November 1974); Mohamed MZALI, Prime Minister (since April 1980)
Imports
$3.0 billion (f.o.b., 1984)
Labor force
1.9 million, 32% agriculture; 15%-25% unemployed; shortage of skilled labor
Land boundaries
1,408km Water
Language
Arabic (official); Arabic and French (commerce)
Legal system
based on French civil law system and Islamic law; constitution patterned on Turkish and US constitutions adopted 1959; some judicial review of legislative acts in the Supreme Court in joint session; legal education at Institute of Higher Studies and Superior School of Law of the University of Tunis
Limits of territorial waters (claimed)
12 nm (fishing 12 nm exclusive fisheries zone follows the 50-meter isobath for part of the coast, maximum 65 nm)
Literacy
about 62%
Major sectors
agriculture; industry — mining (phosphate), energy (petroleum, natural gas), manufacturing (food processing and textiles), services (transport, telecommunications, tourism, government)
Major trade partners
France, Italy, FRG, Greece Tourism and foreign worker remittances: $934 million (1984)
Member of
AfDB, Arab League, AIOEC, FAO, G-77, GATT (de facto), IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, IDA, IDE— Islamic Development Bank, IFAD, IFC, ILO, International Lead and Zinc Study Group, IMF, IMO, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, IOOC, ITU, IWC — International Wheat Council, NAM, OAPEC, OAU, QIC, Regional Cooperation for Development, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO Economy
Monetary conversion rate
0.80 Tunisian dinar (TD)=US$1 (30 August 1984)
National holiday
Independence Day, 1 June
Nationality
noun — Tunisian(s); adjective — Tunisian
Official name
Republic of Tunisia
Organized labor
about 360,000 members claimed, roughly 20% of labor force; General Union of Tunisian Workers (UGTT), quasiindependent of Destourian Socialist Party • Government
Political subdivisions
23 governorates (provinces)
Population
7,352,000 (July 1985), average annual growth rate 2.4%
Religion
98% Muslim, 1% Christian, less than 1% Jewish
Suffrage
universal over age 21
Type
republic »
Voting strength
(1981 election) over 95% Destourian Socialist Party; 3.23% Social Democrats, under 1% Popular United Movement, under 1% Communist Party