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Included Nations/Regions: Tunisia [x], Northern Africa [x], The World [x]


Religion and State (RAS) Indexes1

Religion Indexes (Tunisia)

State Funding of Religion
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 68/253
Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 31/253
State Regulation of Majority or All Religions
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 16/253
State Discrimination of Minority Religions
Summary categories: None (0/3), Low (1/3), Medium (2/3), High (3/3)

Ranking: 36/253
For details on how these indexes were constructed, click here

Tunisia: Major World Religions (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2

The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Baha'is, Buddhists, Chinese folk-religionists, Christians, Jews, Nonreligious.


Tunisia: Largest Religious Groups (1900 - 2050) (World Religion Database, 2020)2

The following groups with less than 1% of the population were hidden from this graph: Agnostics, Atheists, Catholics, Independents, Mahayanists, Orthodox, Protestants, Shias, unaffiliated Christians.


Religious Adherents (World Religion Database 2020)2

Religion Tunisia
[x]
Northern Africa
[x]
The World
[x]
Baha'is 0.02% 0.02% 0.11%
Buddhists 0.00% 0.01% 6.83%
--Mahayanists 0.00% 0.01% 4.89%
--Theravadins --- 0.01% 1.72%
--Lamaists --- --- 0.23%
Chinese folk-religionists 0.00% 0.01% 5.98%
Christians 0.20% 4.74% 32.16%
--unaffiliated Christians 0.00% 0.02% 1.46%
--Orthodox 0.00% 3.62% 3.75%
--Catholics 0.16% 0.58% 15.90%
--Protestants 0.01% 0.54% 7.51%
--Independents 0.02% 0.11% 5.00%
Daoists --- --- 0.11%
Confucianists --- --- 0.11%
Ethnic religionists --- 0.49% 3.65%
Hindus --- 0.00% 13.58%
--Vaishnavites --- 0.00% 5.15%
--Shaivites --- 0.00% 4.86%
--Saktists --- 0.00% 3.57%
Jains --- --- 0.08%
Jews 0.02% 0.00% 0.19%
Muslims 99.50% 94.00% 24.20%
--Sunnis 97.51% 93.62% 21.56%
--Shias 0.10% 0.15% 2.44%
--Islamic schismatics 1.89% 0.22% 0.21%
New religionists --- --- 0.85%
Shintoists --- --- 0.04%
Sikhs --- 0.00% 0.34%
Spiritists --- --- 0.19%
Zoroastrians --- --- 0.00%
Non-Religious 0.27% 0.73% 11.57%
--Agnostics 0.24% 0.65% 9.65%
--Atheists 0.03% 0.07% 1.92%

Religious demographics (Tunisia)3

The country has an area of 63,170 square miles and a population of 10.2 million. The population is 99 percent Muslim and overwhelmingly Sunni. Less than one-half of 1 percent is Shi'a Muslim. There is a small indigenous "Maraboutic" Muslim community that belongs to spiritual brotherhoods known as "turuq." There are 200 Baha'is, and the community's presence dates back a century. The Government regards the Baha'i faith as a heretical sect of Islam and permits its adherents to practice their faith only in private.

The Christian community, composed of foreign residents and a small group of native-born citizens of European or Arab descent, numbers approximately 25,000 and is dispersed throughout the country. There are an estimated 20,000 Roman Catholics, 500 of whom regularly practice. The Catholic Church operates 12 churches, 9 schools, several libraries, and 2 clinics. In addition to holding religious services, the Catholic Church freely organized cultural activities and performed charitable work throughout the country. According to church leaders, there are approximately 2,000 practicing Protestant Christians, including a few hundred citizens who have converted to Christianity. The Russian Orthodox Church has approximately 100 practicing members and maintains a churches in Tunis and Bizerte. The French Reform Church maintains a church in Tunis, with a congregation estimated at 140 primarily foreign members. The Anglican Church has a church in Tunis with several hundred predominantly foreign members. There are approximately 50 Seventh-day Adventists. The Greek Orthodox Church has an estimated 30 members and maintains 3 churches (in Tunis, Sousse, and Djerba). There are also approximately 50 Jehovah's Witnesses, of whom half are foreign residents and half are native-born citizens. Occasionally, Catholic and Protestant religious groups hold services in private residences or other locations.

Judaism is the country's third largest religion with 1,500 members. One-third of the Jewish population lives in and around the capital. The remainder lives on the island of Djerba, where the Jewish community dates back 2,500 years.

The Government allows a small number of foreign religious charitable nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to operate and provide social services.

Summary Information

Tunisia
[x]
Northern Africa
[x]
The World
[x]
Region Northern Africa The World --
Total Population4 11,201,500 205,113,992 7,335,774,068
Area in square miles 63,170 3,291,406 196,939,900
Life Expectancy from birth, in years5 75.5 72.4 71.9
Gross National Income per capita, in current international dollars5 11,150.0 9,794.0 16,101.0
Description of Polity Score6 (democratic) -- --
Judicial Independence Composite Score, as average of scores for higher and lower courts7 1.9 0.0 0.8
Official Religion(s)8 Sunni Islam -- --

Tunisia - Google Map


Religion and the State

Religion and State Collection (2014)

Tunisia
[x]
Is proselytizing Legal?1 Yes
Is religious registration someties denied?1 Registration is required but sometimes denied
What are the consequences of registration?1 Groups are officially required to register, and the government enforces this and discriminates against unregistered groups.
Official Support: The formal relationship between religion and state.1 State Controlled Religion, Positive Attitude
The extent to which religious education is mandatory in public schools.1 Mandatory for all; the course must be in religion.
The extent to which funding is exclusive to one or a few religions.1 Government funding of religion goes primarily to one religion but at least some other religions receive some funds.
The extent to which there are religious requirements and oaths for holding office.1 Some government officials (other than head of state church and the like) must meet some form of religious requirements to hold office.

Constitutional Features [ View Excerpts]

Constitution

Tunisia
[x]
Constitution Year10 2014
Last Amended10 (n/a)
Source10 Constitute Project
Translation10 Source is an English translation.
Current as of10 September 7, 2018

Socio-Economic Measures

Military Measures

Tunisia
[x]
Northern Africa
[x]
The World
[x]
Composite Index of National Capability, in fraction of 117 0.000965 0.00383175 0.005162584
2012 Military expenditure (% of GDP)5 1.8 2.8 --

Other Measures on Religion, State, and Society


Constitution Clauses Related to Religion


Constitution Excerpts (clauses that reference religion) (Tunisia)10

Preamble

In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

...

Expressing our people’s commitment to the teachings of Islam ... based on the foundations of our Islamic-Arab identity ...

... consolidating our cultural and civilizational affiliation to the Arab and Muslim nation ... towards complementarity with the Muslim and African peoples ...

...

... with the help of God ...

Article 1.

... [Tunisia’s] religion is Islam ...

...

Article 6.

The state is the guardian of religion. It guarantees freedom of conscience and belief, the free exercise of religious practices and the neutrality of mosques and places of worship from all partisan instrumentalisation.

Article 39.

... [Public education] shall also work to consolidate the Arab-Muslim identity ... in the young generations,

Article 74.

[Persons] ... whose religion is Islam shall have the right to stand for election to the position of President of the Republic.

Article 78.

The President of the Republic undertakes the following appointments through presidential orders:

Appointing and dismissing the General Mufti of the Tunisian Republic.

...

Postscript.

And God is the guarantor of success.

Variable Details

  • For more details on State Funding of Religion (FUN_4CAT) see this document.
  • For more details on Societal Discrimination of Minority Religions (SOC_4CAT) see this document.
  • For more details on State Regulation of Majority or All Religions (NXX_4CAT) see this document.
  • For more details on State Discrimination of Minority Religions (MXX_4CAT) see this document.
  • Sources

    1 The Religion and State (RAS) Project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel and is directed by Jonathan Fox. Round 3 of the RAS includes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more as well as a sampling of smaller states and offers annual measures from 1990 to 2014. The methods used for conducting the RAS3 collection and the complete codebook can be reviewed online. Or, the codebook and data file can be downloaded free of charge here. For details on how the RAS indexes reported on the ARDA’s National Profiles were coded, constructed, and placed into categories, click here.

    2 Todd M. Johnson and Brian J. Grim, eds. World Religion Database (Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2022).

    3 The U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report is submitted to Congress annually by the Department of State in compliance with Section 102(b) of the International Religious Freedom Act (IRFA) of 1998. This report supplements the most recent Human Rights Reports by providing additional detailed information with respect to matters involving international religious freedom. It includes individual country chapters on the status of religious freedom worldwide. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. These State Department reports are open source.

    4 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Demographics reports the estimates of religious demographics, both country by country and region by region. The RCS was created to fulfill the unmet need for a dataset on the religious dimensions of countries of the world, with the state-year as the unit of observation. It estimates populations and percentages of adherents of 100 religious denominations including second level subdivision within Christianity and Islam. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database.

    5 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.

    6 The Center for Systemic Peace (CSP) is engaged in innovative research on the problem of political violence within the structural context of the dynamic global system. The Center supports scientific research and quantitative analysis in many issue areas related to the fundamental problems of violence in both human relations and societal-systemic development processes. The Center continually monitors political behavior in each of the world's major states and reports on emerging issues and persisting conditions related to the problems of political violence and "state failure." A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission. *Note: Polity Scores range from -10 to 10 and include the following categories: -10 to -9: strongly autocratic, -8 to -7 autocratic, -6 to -4 weakly autocratic, -3 to +3 anocratic, +4 to +6 weakly democratic, +7 to +8 democratic, +9 to +10 strongly democratic.

    7 Varieties of Democracy (V-Dem) is a new approach to conceptualizing and measuring democracy. V-Dem provides a multidimensional and disaggregated dataset that reflects the complexity of the concept of democracy as a system of rule that goes beyond simple presence of elections. The V-Dem project distinguishes between seven high-level principles of democracy: electoral, liberal, participatory, deliberative, egalitarian, majoritarian, and consensual, and collects data to measure these principles. A dataset with these and other international measures can be downloaded from here. Used with permission.

    8 The Religious Characteristics of States Dataset Project: Government Religious Preference (GRP) measures government-level favoritism toward, and disfavor against, 30 religious denominations. A series of ordered categorical variables index the state's institutional favoritism in 28 different ways. The variables are combined to form five composite indices for five broad components of state-religion: official status, religious education, financial support, regulatory burdens, and freedom of practice. The five components' composites in turn are further combined into a single composite score, the GRP score. The RCS Data Project would like to acknowledge, recognize, and express our deepest gratitude for the significant contributions of Todd M. Johnson, the principal investigator of the World Christian Database, the co-principal investigator of the World Religion Database, and co-author of the World Christian Encyclopedia series.

    9 Data under the "Features of Constitution" heading are drawn from coding of the U.S. State Department's 2008 International Religious Freedom Reports conducted by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the International Religious Freedom reports. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    10 Text from country constitutions was copied from primary documents obtained online using a variety of sources, including the Constitute Project, World Constitutions Illustrated, and government sources. When the text was in a language other than English, it was translated to English by ARDA staff or with web-based translation utilities such as Google Translate. Emphases were added to the text by ARDA staff to differentiate religious content from non-religious content. Text is current to the date listed in the "Current as of" field shown above. Please contact us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you are aware of any incorrect information provided on this page.

    11 Freedom House is an independent non-governmental organization that offers measures of the extent to which governments are accountable to their own people; the rule of law prevails; and freedoms of expression, association, belief and respect for the rights of minorities and women are guaranteed. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    12 The CIA's World Factbook was created as an annual summary and update to the now defunct National Intelligence Survey (NIS) studies. The first classified Factbook was published in August 1962, and the first unclassified version was published in June 1971. The NIS program was terminated in 1973 except for the Factbook, map, and gazetteer components. The 1975 Factbook was the first to be made available to the public with sales through the US Government Printing Office (GPO). The year 2010 marks the 67th year of the World Factbook and its predecessor programs. The maps and flags are also from the World Factbook, which is an open source.

    13 Relying on agencies from each country, as well as a synthesis of data from United Nations divisions, Eurostate Demographic statistics, the U.S. Census international database, and its own data collection, the World Bank's Open Data site offers free and open access to data about development in countries around the globe.

    14 The Heritage Foundation/Wall Street Journal Index of Economic Freedom is a systematic, empirical measurement of economic freedom in countries throughout the world. A set of objective economic criteria are used to study and grade various countries for the annual publication of the Index of Economic Freedom. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    15 The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    16 The 2013 Gender Inequality Index is a composite measure reflecting inequality in achievements between women and men in three dimensions: reproductive health, empowerment and the labor market. It varies between zero (when women and men fare equally) and one (when men or women fare poorly compared to the other in all dimensions). The health dimension is measured by two indicators: maternal mortality ratio and the adolescent fertility rate. The empowerment dimension is also measured by two indicators: the share of parliamentary seats held by each sex and by secondary and higher education attainment levels. The labor dimension is measured by women’s participation in the work force. Source: The United Nations Human Development Reports provide data and statistical analysis in various areas of human development. The Human Development Report (HDR) presents two types of statistics: the human development indicator tables, which provide a global assessment of country achievements in different areas of human development, and thematic statistical analysis. A dataset with these and the other international measures highlighted on the country pages can be downloaded from this website. Used with permission.

    17 Military data is drawn from the National Material Capabilities (v4.0) dataset, which is a component of and hosted by the Correlates of War Project. The Correlates of War Project seeks to facilitate the collection, dissemination, and use of accurate and reliable quantitative data in international relations. Correlates of War data may be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.

    18 The article by Brian Grim and Roger Finke describes the coding of the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom reports. The 2003, 2005, and 2008 reports were coded by researchers at the Association of Religion Data Archives. The GRI, GFI and SRI values reported on the National Profiles are averages from the 2003, 2005, and 2008 International Religious Freedom reports, while the Religious Persecution measure is an average from the 2005 and 2008 reports. All other measures derived from the International Religious Freedom reports were coded from the reports 2008. A data file with all of the 2008 coding, as well as data files with other cross national collections are available for preview and download from the data archive on this site. Used with permission.

    19 The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Dataset contains standards-based quantitative information on government respect for 15 internationally recognized human rights for 202 countries, annually from 1981-2011. It is designed for use by scholars and students who seek to test theories about the causes and consequences of human rights violations, as well as policy makers and analysts who seek to estimate the human rights effects of a wide variety of institutional changes and public policies including democratization, economic aid, military aid, structural adjustment, and humanitarian intervention. The full CIRI Human Rights Dataset can be accessed through the above link. Used with permission.

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