In several districts of the Kasserine governorate, one out of two inhabitants lives below the poverty line. However, in El Menzah, a wealthy suburb of Tunis, only one out of 500 people is classified as poor.

How can such discrepancies be explained? To better understand the situation, inkyfada analysed and mapped the available data regarding poverty rates in Tunisia. Using these numbers, it is possible to identify the distribution of inequalities within the population.

These inequalities can be caused by different factors, such as unemployment, level of education or access to public services. Inkyfada identified several significant correlations by comparing the various data.

Poverty decreases but inequality increases

In 2000, over one in four people lived below the poverty line. In 2015, this figure was only one in six. In fifteen years, the national poverty level has decreased by almost 10 points, meaning that nearly 800,000 fewer people are living in poverty.

But even though all regions have seen a decline in poverty, this has not resulted in decreased inequality, but rather the contrary. The capital and the coastal areas remain much more fortunate than the inlands.

The Central-West, 6 times more impoverished than Greater Tunis

The Central-West, the most impoverished region of Tunisia, is 6 times more impoverished than Greater Tunis.

In the North-West, 28.4% of people live below the poverty line. In 2000, this region (composed of the governorates of Beja, Kef and Siliana) was 2.5 times more impoverished than Greater Tunis, yet this disparity has grown over the years, to the point of doubling. This inland region is now 5 times poorer than the capital and its surrounding areas.

A poverty rate that is higher than the national average in more than half of the governorates

14 governorates (11 of which are inland regions) have a poverty rate exceeding the national average (15.2%). Four of them have a poverty rate of over 30%, which is nearly double the national average.

In proportion to the population, the number of people living below the poverty line in Kairouan is 10 times higher than in Tunis. These figures reveal the geographical disparities and underline the extent to which the inland areas of the country are disadvantaged compared to the coastal areas, and the capital in particular.

Five governorates in the Central and North-Western regions set new poverty records

Kairouan, Béja, Siliana, Kef and Kasserine: the five most impoverished governorates are all located in Central and North-Western Tunisia.

According to a study on farm structures that was published by the Ministry of Agriculture (the latest study dating from 2004-2005), these governorates, along with Sfax, have the largest farmland areas in the country, despite the fact that they have the highest poverty rates.

This data confirms a notable disparity between the development of the inland and coastal governorates, as indicated by a study on the regional development index carried out by the Tunisian Institute for Competitiveness and Quantitative Studies (ITCEQ).

Kairouan : All delegations in Kairouan are more impoverished than the national average, some with over 20,000 people living on roughly 5 dinars or less per day.

Kef : Driven by the socio-economic conditions of the rural exodus, almost one in three people born in Kef reside in another governorate. The overwhelming majority (76,5%) of these internal migrations are to Greater Tunis, in search of further opportunities.

Kasserine : Out of the 13 delegations in Kasserine, 10 have a poverty rate of over 30%. In three of these, more than one out of two inhabitants is living below the poverty line.

Beja : In 6 out of 9 delegations, more than 25% of the population lives below the poverty line. The most impoverished delegations are those located the farthest from the Greater Tunis area.

Siliana : Siliana, a predominantly rural governorate, suffers from many socio-economic difficulties, despite having many natural resources and several exploitable but neglected historical sites..

Source : The National Survey on Budget, Consumption and Living Standards of Households (ENBCNV), 2015

Kairouan, the most impoverished governorate in the country

In each of the delegations of Sbikha, North Kairouan and South Kairouan, the number of people living below the poverty line exceeds 20,000. In the latter two, the unemployment rate of young workers (25-29 years old) exceeds 30%, compared to the national average of 14.82%.

In several of the governorate's delegations, which have the highest poverty rate in Tunisia, more than one in three inhabitants is impoverished, and the poverty rate even exceeds 40% in El Oueslatia. In Nasrallah, where the poverty rate exceeds 35%, almost a quarter of the able population is unemployed.

The governorate of Kairouan experienced more than 200 protest movements out of the 1492 protests recorded in January 2021 by the FTDES. It is the governorate where the most demonstrations took place, after Kasserine and Greater Tunis. The protesters demanded increased employment, justice and the improvement of their socio-economic situation.

Glaring disparities between delegations

At the delegation level, local inequalities are even more striking than at the governorate level. In the central and western parts of the country, the lack of development and even the absence of infrastructure are particularly striking.

The delegation of Hassi El Ferid in Kasserine is 267 times more impoverished than that of El Menzah in Greater Tunis.

Out of the 10 most impoverished delegations, 5 are in Kasserine

The 10 most impoverished delegations :

Record poverty rates across the Kasserine delegations

In three delegations in Kasserine, more than one in two inhabitants lives in poverty. The least impoverished delegation, North Kasserine, has a poverty rate of 18.9%, which is still higher than the national average of 15.2%.

On June 16, 2015, Kasserine filed a case with the Truth and Dignity Commission (IVD) to constitute itself as a victimised region, arguing that it had "suffered from marginalisation and systematic exclusion" on the basis of Article 10 pertaining to transitional justice. At the time, the governorate of Kasserine had based its case on its human development index (HDI), which was the lowest in the country, suffering from a high illiteracy rate and low life expectancy.

Privileged governorates around Tunis and the coastal area

Tunis, Ben Arous, Ariana, Sfax and Nabeul are the five governorates with the lowest poverty rates in Tunisia. Located around the capital and along the coast, they account for the majority of economic activities and jobs in the country, and are in sharp contrast with the inland governorates.

The governorates with the lowest poverty rates :

Tunis : The vast majority of areas in Tunis have very low poverty rates, with the exception of a few delegations in the south of the governorate which have a high demographic density and a fragile economic structure.

Ben Arous : Ben Arous attracts a high level of migration and has a high demographic density: in this governorate, the population growth is 2%, which is twice as high as the national average.

Ariana : In Ariana, only Kalaât El Andalous and Cité Ettadhamen have poverty rates that exceed 10%. The former is characterised by rural and agricultural activity, while the latter has a very high demographic density.

Sfax : Despite an overall low poverty rate, the inequalities between the various delegations of Sfax are glaring: with a poverty rate of 17.4%, the rural delegation of Bir Ali Ben Khalifa is 7 times more impoverished than Sfax Ville (2.5%).

Nabeul : Nabeul is characterised by strong agricultural activity and seaside tourism thanks to its 180 km long coastline. Most of the Nabeul delegations have a poverty rate that is below the national average, with the exception of Hammam and Guezzaz (16%) and Takelsa (19.1%).

Out of the 10 least impoverished delegations, 8 are in Tunis

The 10 least impoverished delegations :

A region that is privileged but unequal

All the delegations of Greater Tunis (the governorates of Tunis, Ariana, Ben Arous and Manouba) have a poverty rate below or equal to the national average (15.2%). But this does not prevent major disparities between the delegations.

Tebourba (Manouba) is almost ten times more impoverished than Carthage (Tunis).

Which governorates have the largest number of people living below the poverty line?

Governorates with high poverty rates, such as Kairouan or Kasserine, are regions where you find the most people living below the poverty line. However, in some other governorates that are less impoverished but densely populated, many people are also living on 5.1 dinars or less per day. This is for example the case of Sousse, which has a poverty rate of 16.1%, but nevertheless has more than 100,000 people living below the poverty line.

Nearly 200.000 people in Kairouan live on less than 5.1 dinars a day

In addition to having the highest poverty rate in the country, Kairouan is also the governorate where the most people live below the poverty line, amounting to 199,082 individuals. Therefore, even though there are half as many people living in Kairouan than in Tunis, the number of people living below the poverty line is five times higher.

The 5 governorates where the largest number of people live below the poverty line :

Where do the largest numbers of people live on 5.1 dinars or less per day?

As for the governorates, the delegations where the largest number of people live below the poverty line generally have a high poverty rate, such as Sbikha in Kairouan, with more than 25,000 people. Because of their population density, some delegations also have many people living on 5.1 dinars or less per day. In South Gafsa, there are more than 15,000 people living on 5.1 dinars or less per day, while the poverty rate of 15.4% is only slightly higher than the national average of 15.2%.

6 out of 10 delegations with the largest number of people living below the poverty line are located in Kairouan and Kasserine

Only affluent regions have access to natural gas

Access to natural gas is one of the most glaring factors of inequality between regions. Among the inland regions, the most connected delegations in this respect are North Kasserine and Zaghouan (about 17%). A comparison of poverty rates and access to gas shows a very strong correlation between these two factors: the more impoverished a delegation is, the less likely it is to be connected to the gas network.

On the contrary, the governorate of Tunis and the coastal regions (which are the most affluent areas) have high access levels to gas, while an overwhelming part of the country has little or no access to this public service.

Inland areas that are still without water

Even though water connections have been steadily increasing over the past 20 years, thousands of people, mainly living in rural areas, still have no access to running water.

Fernana, in the governorate of Jendouba, is the delegation with the lowest water connection in the whole country. In this city where one in three inhabitants is impoverished, a quarter of the population has no access to running water. In comparison, all the delegations in Tunis are at least 94% connected to the water network.

20 inland delegations without sewage systems

The areas that are the least well connected by ONAS are all in inland governorates: 20 delegations (in Kairouan, Kasserine, Sidi Bouzid, Gafsa, Medenine, and Tataouine) are not connected at all. On average, the poverty rate in these delegations is about 30%, which is double the national average of 15.2%

With the exception of some delegations in Sfax, all the cities with less than 10% connection to the ONAS sewage system have high poverty rates of more than 20%. This also holds true in reverse: more than half of the delegations that are connected to 90% or more of the ONAS system have a poverty rate of less than 3.65%.