[09/03/07] News Bytes From Tunisia

A round-up of some of the interesting news coming out of Tunisia these days…

The 2007 Davos World Economic Forum Report ranks Tunisia first in Africa, second in the Arab World after Dubai, and 34th in the world in terms of tourist and travel competitiveness. The report is based on three main criteria: business environment, human and natural resources and the quality of political reforms undertaken.

According to figures released February 23rd by the National Office for the Family and Population, the percentage of Tunisians over the age of 60 reached 9% last year, and it is expected to reach nearly 29% by 2050. The percentage of people over 80 will reach 40% by 2050. At no more than 1.8%, the population growth rate in Tunisia is considered the lowest in the Arab world and is comparable with that found in European countries.
These figures will have an important impact on ensuring the necessary workforce during the next decade, as well as on the social security funds and retirement systems. The three solutions suggested up to now are: reducing pensions, raising fund entry prices and extending the retirement age to 65 instead of 60.

Tunisia’s key olive oil exports jumped by 53 per cent to 167,700 tonnes last year. The value of Tunisia’s olive oil exports surged to 828.9 million dinars ($643 million) last year from 476.7 million in 2005 as a drop in output from top producer Spain underpinned prices. Tunisia’s domestic olive crop grew to 220,000 tonnes from 130,000 tonnes in 2005, and a crop of 170,000 tonnes is expected this year.

A book recently released retraces the history of Tunisian cinema over the past forty years.

Published by

Mohamed Marwen Meddah

Mohamed Marwen Meddah is a Tunisian-Canadian, web aficionado, software engineering leader, blogger, and amateur photographer.

5 thoughts on “[09/03/07] News Bytes From Tunisia”

  1. It’s very interesting to read Tunisian news.

    I’m learning Arabic and I understand very basic French, but they are not good enough to understand news or weblogs written in those languages (far from it).
    I hope you’ll keep me up-to-date by putting up some news like this.

    I would also appreciate if you could visit my weblog.

    http://blog.livedoor.jp/tunisiajapan/

    I write it primarily to communicate with Tunisian people but unfortunately it is very little known and written in English even to make things worse.
    Hope you’ll find some topics interesting.

  2. You’ve acquired quite a cosmopolitan, international following, MMM.

    Reminds me that some years ago there was an Italian film director married to a German actress. When their kids were little, they’d run around saying things like “Mummy, Ich liebe this, but when can I raus?!”

  3. @Japanese Female: Happy you found the news useful. I’ll be posting news bytes like this every now and then. So I hope you’ll like them ๐Ÿ™‚
    I checked your blog, and will be visiting there often.

    @Jimbo: The more the merrier ๐Ÿ™‚ And very funny story about the Italian and German, looool. In this globalized world, more and more such examples are popping up everywhere, and personally I think it’s great.

    @Zizou: Thanks a bunch Zizou ๐Ÿ™‚
    I really appreciate it ๐Ÿ™‚

Comments are closed.