ABSTRACT

Regional disparity is one of the greatest challenges in Tunisia since the Jasmine Revolution. Inequalities between the privileged coastal area and the marginalized interior area are aggravated by the unbalanced regional development policy adopted after Independence from the French Protectorate (1881–1956). However, interregional inequalities were already identified during the French Protectorate era. Thus, this paper discusses the demographic changes in Tunisia in the early twentieth century using population censuses and statistics published in the colonial period to understand the origin of regional inequalities in contemporary Tunisia. The censuses show that population distribution was relatively balanced in the early Protectorate era, but this changed swiftly from the 1930s because of local people’s internal migration to the capital, Tunis. It is assumed that the migration resulted from modernization and the rural exodus. Further study using the censuses of the French Protectorate era and observation of the regional population patterns of that era serves as a key material for understanding the origin of regional inequalities in Tunisia.

摘要

地区差异是自茉莉花革命以来突尼斯面临的最大挑战之一。从法国保护国独立后（1881-1956 年）采取的不平衡区域发展政策加剧了享有特权的沿海地区和边缘化内陆地区之间的不平等。然而，在法国保护国时代，地区间的不平等现象已经显现。因此，本文讨论了二十世纪初突尼斯的人口变化，利用殖民时期公布的人口普查和统计数据来了解当代突尼斯地区不平等的根源。人口普查显示，在早期的保护国时代，人口分布相对平衡，但由于当地人向首都突尼斯的内部迁移，这种情况从 1930 年代开始迅速改变。据推测，迁移是现代化和农村人口外流的结果。进一步利用法国保护国时代的人口普查和对该时代区域人口格局的观察，作为理解突尼斯区域不平等起源的关键材料。