Tunisia: at the crossroad of worlds

Historically, Tunisia has been a gateaway for migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa to Europe. Recently, the migration pathway started to change. The country has become not only the area of trasition but also of destination and settlement. What has made the biggest impact on such a turn? What motivates and prevents people from moving to certain areas of Tunisia and abroad?

This storymap will provide insights into migration drivers and trajectories, based on the interviews conducted in Tunisia between January and October, 2021. The study is funded by a Horizon 2020 project  "Future Migration Scenarios for Europe" . Explore migration stories from Tunisia in the storymap below.

Located in the heart of the central Mediterranean, in the north of the African continent, Tunisia is considered a relatively small country, with around 11,7 million inhabitants.

Positioned geographically fairly close to Europe, Tunisia has been used as a route for migration, trade and good exchanges by people from sub-Saharan Africa.

But in the last two decades, things have taken another turn. Tunisia has gradually become the destination and place of settlement for people from neighbouring Maghreb countries, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa. Migration occupies a central place in the daily lives of Tunisians. It affects everyone, from all the rich to the poor and has spread in all regions and cities of the country.

Around 1,4 million Tunisians have lived abroad. According to data from 2017, these numbers make it one of the significant emigration countries in the area of the Mediterranean.

Between 1990 and 2010, Spain and Italy emerged as the two main destinations for irregular migrants from Tunisia, followed by Libya. But the signing of the Schengen Agreement changed things, making it more difficult for irregular migrants to settle in Italy and Spain as those two countries imposed a certain limited number of days one could spend within their borders. Libya has also changed its status as a destination country for Tunisians since 2011, the Arab Spring protests that resulted in civil war, chaos, and armed groups and militias reign. But it is not only international migration, such as emigration, transit, immigration or definitive settlement of foreigners, that impacts Tunisia. Internal migration is as much part of the Tunisian migration DNA.

Known as "Jawharat essahil" or the Pearl of Sahel, the city of Sousse is the regional metropolis of the Sahel Region. Sousse is also the third biggest city in Tunisia, counting around 240 thousand inhabitants in 2014. Suppose the Great Sousse agglomeration is taken into account. In that case, its population is over two times higher (520,000) than the population of the city of Sousse.

Due to its size and positioning, the city has been an attractive point for three types of migrants: Tunisian immigrants from the interior regions, Tunisian immigrants returning from abroad and foreigners coming mostly from Sub-Saharan Africa; other Maghreb countries and Europe.

During the last decade, the waves of migration have sparked the creation of informal settlements, meaning that these are not part of any urban planning and have been built without any building permits and with poor public equipment. These are mostly located on the city's southern outskirts, known as Taffala, Sidi Abdelhamid, Houmet el Oued. Still, more recently, these informal settlements have spread to the western outskirts, such as Roummaniya. These trends have caused socio-spatial fractures between the low-income populations living in the city's southern areas and the well-off people living west and north of the city centre.

Sousse became an obvious choice due to its proximity, existing social networks, opportunities to pursue education and most importantly, the chance to find employment in the industry sector.

The city with its surroundings was rarely viewed as a mere stop in the trip towards Europe. Still, the lack of prospects in Sousse and Tunisia forces people, especially youth, to look for other ways of improving their livelihood.

The pandemic hit Tunisia's economy hard. It has forced an increasing number of people to migrate irregularly to Europe, most commonly travelling through the Italian Lampedusa. Students and highly-skilled migrants look for legal options, either continuing their education or agreeing to an arranged marriage.

When painting the picture of who migrates within and outside the borders of Tunisia, one thing is pretty clear - men dominate Tunisian international migration. In 2014, for example, they made up two-thirds of the people who decided to leave the country. Almost half of them is under 25 years old, therefore very young. More than 80% of those who live abroad decide to settle in European countries. The vast majority opt for France, followed by Italy and Germany. Out of the total number of people who migrate, 15% stay in other Arab countries. 

Tunisian migration is mostly internal and dominated by male youth. Approximately two-thirds of those who reach Sousse have rural origins.

The city of Sousse is the main destination for young people who move from governorates such as Kairouan, Kasserine and Sidi Bouzid, the Sahel (Mahdia) and the Northwest of the country (Siliana). These areas mainly have an agricultural focus and are also suffering from economic and social marginalisation, high unemployment and poverty rates, deteriorating infrastructure, and a low development index.

On top of everything else mentioned, these areas also suffer because of environmental crises. Access to water is a particularly sensitive issue, especially in southern governorates. The scarcity of water resources makes it complicated for people to practice agriculture without significant financial investments. ‘Because there are no job opportunities’ or ‘The place where [they] live is rural and doesn’t offer jobs’ are the main reasons for which mostly young Tunisian men decide to leave their rural area and settle in Sousse or abroad. Education and the desire to pursue it are other reasons people choose to migrate. The average migrant has received higher education and obtained their Baccalaureate. The pursuit of better economic opportunities is often paired with the desires of the migrant themself or those of the household they come from. Becoming independent or getting married are among their priorities: “I decided to come for work, not for entertainment. I was thinking of starting a family. Can you imagine someone aged 36 with no wife?” The phrase ‘There are no stable job opportunities’ represents a mantra often mentioned when discussing migration. The most affected by it are the young, better-educated generations. According to the latest research, migration trends have changed. More women decide to make the trip to seek better job opportunities, fulfil their desire for emancipation and empowerment, or reunite with family members. Currently, especially in the case of some areas, ‘the majority [of those who move] are girls. Due to job availability, they move to the coastal region to work in factories.” For example, in some poor southern and western regions, such as Ain Draham, parents gave away their daughters to work in Tunis, and getting their payments was a common practice. “I came here to work when I was 12. My father died, and my mother married another man. I came here to live in my auntie’s house in Bir Chobbek (a slum in Sousse). I worked as a maid and then met this man and got married.”

The decision to leave one's country of origin is more than often the result of several reasons. In Tunisia’s case, there are several of them: historical, environmental, demographic, socio-cultural, economic and last, but not least, political nature. According to the declaration of Tunisian migrants in Italy, their main reasons for migration are linked to work and improvement of living conditions such as access to health care and better education conditions.

An important portion of the migrants, increasingly women, also mention matrimony, reduced income from agricultural activities, and studies as reasons to migrate. This last reason had doubled from the beginning of the XXI century when only 5,5 per cent of respondents mentioned education. When it comes to women's reasons to migrate, the picture painted is slightly different. Women usually take this decision when it is connected to family issues, meaning that they follow their husbands or father on their migration journeys. It is more unusual that a single woman will decide to do this independently. Still, ultimately those who migrate on their own do it to finalise their studies or pursue their career or professional goals. They usually come from wealthy families and join a family member who has already made the journey.

The dire economic situation is one reason encountered repeatedly when hearing stories of migration, and things took a turn for the worse, especially during the last couple of years. Some of the crucial sectors, such as tourism, have suffered enormously. First, the terrorist attacks targeting foreigners happened. Then the Covid-19 pandemic took over the world. These unfortunate events increased the high level of unemployment, already particularly severe among highly educated youth.

One of the most important reasons for Tunisians deciding to migrate is linked to the environmental conditions and changes in the country. Droughts and their effects on the population represent one of the major threats. Rising temperatures during the hot and dry summers also cause recurrent fires in several country areas. Furthermore, the annual possibility of heatwaves is expected to increase from 1% to 19% between 2020 and 2099. Higher temperatures are one of the direct causes of strokes or heart attacks, especially for the elderly. Tunisia relies heavily on its agricultural production, but this industry is seriously threatened by the changes in temperature and precipitations, the rise of sea level and the growing risk of flooding. Most of Tunisia’s agricultural production occurs in coastal zones, which are expected to experience significant sea-level rise by the end of the century. When combined with potential decreased water quantity and quality, they also pose a serious threat to crop yields. They are known to cause food shortages and undernutrition, children being especially sensitive to these.

In addition to the factors described above, Tunisia is also suffering because of the overexploitation of water resources. The combination of water erosion, wind erosion and soil salinisation cause a worrying degradation of soil resources that affect crop yield. Finally, an important element that increases environmental threats is poor waste collection management and urbanisation. A significant number of public landfills are installed in sensitive sites such as sebkhas (a smooth flat often saline plain in northern Africa sometimes occupied after rain by a shallow lake) and wadis (a shallow, usually sharply defined depression in a desert region), which have become dumps for household garbage, wastewater and vegetable waters. For instance, in the governorate of Sfax, most of the landfills are uncontrolled, with the effect of the solid waste deposited in the form of a terrace which further advances on the maritime public domain. On the other hand, in the governorate of Mahdia, poor management of waste collection, combined with slow progress in the development of agriculture, harms the residents by making the area more susceptible to flooding. The growing number and increasing strength of such natural calamities cause the number of internally displaced people to grow as well, searching for safer and better places to settle in.

During the 1980s, Tunisia employed many people in the public sector, encouraging universities to offer students training focusing on humanities and social sciences. This trend resulted in a significant percentage of graduates in fields that have not been popular within the labour market in the last couple of decades.  

Simply put, many Tunisians do not have required and valued skills in modern times, causing a discrepancy between what the labour market demands and what those seeking employment can offer. Tunisia has relied on education for its development, now devoting around 6% of its GDP to it, managing to make the illiteracy rate fall sharply since the country's independence. However, although more children were enrolled in the school system, there was no increase in the level and quality of education. School dropout rates remained high, especially within secondary education. Another saddening issue is students' limited creative ability and advanced knowledge skills. Many young Tunisians continue to obtain an education that does not reflect the needs of labour markets.  

Students graduate as teachers or in other disciplines and stay jobless because there are no job opportunities. (…) There are no factories and that is why people who study no longer want to go back there. (TunMig12) 

Over-educated young people who come back to their less developed origin regions are no longer willing to work in agriculture. Therefore, university and vocational training graduates have the highest unemployment rates and the longest time they remain unemployed.  

[Education] used to give people hope. Everyone went to school even those who couldn’t afford it wanted to study to challenge poverty and help their families. When younger generations see me, and people like me unemployed, they don’t move further, they look for training to learn skills. Education is beginning to stagnate. (TunMig24) 

All these factors push young students and graduates to look for possibilities to search for studying or work options abroad. As a result, the level of education is relatively high among migrants. 

My sister finished studying and took the nurse examination when it was not done through orientation. She was jobless for a year then she got a job offer. My other sister is a caregiver. She was jobless for 3 years then got a job. (TuMig04) 

When analyzing Tunisia from a cultural perspective and why people choose to migrate, it is clear that there are several steps in which migration is conducted. Firstly, older generations relocate and move from rural areas to cities in search of better opportunities. If their children don’t find better chances of success, then they continue the family's migration journey and move abroad. Cities such as Sousse are seen as a trampoline by the youth. But more often than not, people try to create and find a better life in Sousse or other similar cities before deciding to move abroad.  Disappointment of younger people regarding their future perspectives has intensified after the 2011 revolution.

Germany, France, Italy are preferred destinations due to factors such as the language, an existing network or family and better work opportunities. Job opportunities are extremely important, therefore Germany and some of the Gulf countries are also seen as desirable choices. While it is not widely spoken about, domestic violence is one of the main causes pushing Tunisian women to resort to internal migration. But while migration seems like an attractive choice, some factors determine people to stay in Tunisia. Economic factors, the fear of losing their connection to their families and culture, and in the case of men - a large number decide against migration because of the strong attachment to their mothers. Family ties in Tunisia are very strong, and being responsible for the well-being of other family members, such as one's children, is often crucial when deciding to migrate. This is especially evident with settled and long-staying migrants, who made this move later in life.

Those who leave want to earn money and savings to finance their projects, with migration being an important chance to improve their living conditions.

We hold the idea that if someone wants to move, he needs to improve his life. We don't have job opportunities there and if we do, there is so much exploitation. If you work for a month, you only receive TND 300 (91.56 euros). You are obliged to accept the job. Those who move to Sousse, Tunis, or Hammamet want to work and save money. I was happy that he moved as I was thinking about studying and moving. I had a plan. (TuMig04)

With more than eleven governments in the past ten years, Tunisia has been living under the grip and stress of political crises caused by the instability of the governing institutions. The 2011 revolution that brought a glimpse of hope is seen nowadays as a wasted chance to turn things around, with people feeling disheartened with the slow pace of improvement in terms of economic development, transparency and good governance, or social equality and equity between regions and territories. On 24 January 2021, marking the 10th anniversary of the 2011 Tunisian Revolution, young people from poor and disadvantaged neighbourhoods in several Tunisian cities, such as Tunis, Monastir, Sousse or Kasserine, took to the streets to express their disappointment and frustration with the continuous downfall of all socio-economic indicators. The protests ended in nighttime altercations and violent clashes with the security forces. Tunisia’s political situation deteriorated further. The Republic’s President, Kaies Saied, concentrated the executive and legislative power in his own hands by merging the government and parliament. The 25 July 2021 decision was strongly disapproved by his opponents, the EU and USA, and the COVID19 health emergency amplified the crisis. The preventative measure put in place to stop the spread of the virus had a devastating impact, particularly on the more vulnerable parts of society. Many sectors, such as export-oriented manufacturing, tourism, the building industry, the transport and gastronomy sectors, have all suffered tremendously, affecting the state of the economy and making the unemployment rate skyrocket. All these factors have advanced the deterioration of the social and political climate.

Illegal migration is a form of expression because someone who is migrating in such a way has a message to deliver. He is escaping the country because there is a problem. Why did he leave his country for another one? What does he want? It is not because he likes to live like Europeans - he can do that in Tunisia. There are some who seek asylum such as religious and gender minorities. It is a big question. Many people are victims of gender violence in a society that disdains differences; for instance, homosexuals are not accepted. Then, they will seek an opportunity abroad to look for diversity and freedom. (…) Still, economic and educational reasons are the major reasons to push people to migrate. (TunMig05)