The informal economy in Tunisia is no longer a marginal phenomenon, but a silent pillar of the national productive fabric. According to a joint study by the United Nations Development Programme and the International Labour Organization published in 2022, it accounts for 35.2% of GDP and mobilizes nearly 917,700 workers, or 26.8% of the active population.
The budgetary impact is significant. As early as 2019, the Tunisian Institute for Strategic Studies estimated the tax revenue shortfall related to informality at 5.4 billion dinars. But beyond the losses of public revenues, it is social cohesion that wobbles. Young people aged 15 to 19, among whom more than 80% work in the informal sector, women in rural areas, and precarious workers remain excluded from social protection and legal stability.
For many, informality is not a choice but a survival strategy, a consequence of a formal sector perceived as costly, complex, and hard to access. The Association of Tunisian Economists (ASECTU) underscores the specificity of this subsistence informality, which requires differentiated and inclusive responses.
Digitization as a catalyst for formalization
Facing this reality, digitization emerges as a strategic lever able to transform economic incentives. It simultaneously affects several determinants of informality.
