Poverty rate down, middle class growing in Tunisia

2007-07-27

In a recent report from the Tunisian Ministry of Development, statistics claimed the poverty rate in the country has declined, from 4.2% in 2004 to 3.8%. The middle class saw a boost, rising to 81.1% of the population, up from 77.6% in 2000.

By Jamel Arfaoui for Magharebia in Tunis – 27/07/2007

[Getty Images] The number of Tunisians living in poverty is in decline

Tunisia's Ministry of Development revealed recently that the poverty rate in the country has fallen to 3.8%, compared to 4.2% in 2004. The Ministry report specifies that 376,000 people are living beneath the poverty threshold in Tunisia.

During a press conference held Tuesday (July 24th), Mohamed Nouri Jouini, Minister of Development and International Co-operation, said the National Census Institute used new methods to determine the poverty figures. Under the new Tunisian standards, any person making less than 400 dinars per year is considered below the poverty line.

The survey, which included a sample made up of nearly 13,400 families representing all professional and social categories, claimed an expansion of the middle class, which comprises 81.1% of the population, compared to 77.6% in 2000. The total number of this class reportedly increased by 500,000 persons during the same period.

According to Jouini, the expansion of the middle class "reflects the efforts Tunisia is exerting to serve social development through economic development, in particular the level of social remittances, which amount to 300 dinars per month for a single family, and the level of subsidisation, which reaches 3% of gross domestic product."

The Minister explained that the survey conducted by the National Census Institute, a government institution, also ascertained an increase in average family expenditure, which amounted to 8,211 dinars for one family, while average individual expenditure was 1,820 dinars per year.

This report comes after a July 2nd statement by Omar Nkhili, Director of the United Nations Development Programme for Tunisia, where he said, "The United Nations Development Programme values Tunisia's extensive efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals," which world leaders laid out in 2000 and which aim to reduce the global poverty rate by half by 2015. Nkhili said the periodic report on the Millennium goals affirmed this year that Tunisia has successfully reduced the poverty rate. "We have confidence that the reduction in the poverty rate will reach 1.5% by 2015."

Since 1992, the Tunisian government has created a national solidarity fund aimed at improving the living conditions of inhabitants of marginalised areas and ending their isolation.

The "2626 Fund's" revenue comes from donations by private citizens and institutions. A national day for the Fund, every December 8th, was set aside to recruit citizens and public and private institutions to collect financial aid to support the programme.

The report announced by the Tunisian Minister also revealed that average individual expenditure had grown at an annual rate of 6.5% at current prices (3.8% at constant 1990 prices) from 2000-2005. Jouiri noted that Tunis recorded the highest average individual expenditure, estimated at 2,390 dinars, followed by the central-eastern region, at 2,084 dinars per individual. Meanwhile, the central-western region saw the lowest level of expenditure, at 1,138 per year.

Food was the leading category of family expenditure, representing 34.8% of total expenditures for 2005. Housing expenses followed at an average 414 dinars per individual and 22.8% of the total. Transportation expenses totalled 10.7% and hygiene and medical treatment 10.3% of total expenditure.

During his speech Wednesday, on the 50th Anniversary of the Republic, President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali called on Tunisian banks to extend the maximum period for collecting housing loans, making it 25 years instead of the current 20 years.