Tunisia Military 2022, CIA World Factbook

Tunisian Armed Forces (Forces Armées Tunisiennes, FAT): Tunisian Army (includes Air Defense Force), Tunisian Navy, Tunisia Air Force; Ministry of Interior: National Police, National Guard (2022)

note: the National Police has primary responsibility for law enforcement in the major cities, while the National Guard (gendarmerie) oversees border security and patrols smaller towns and rural areas

Military expenditures

3% of GDP (2021 est.)

3% of GDP (2020 est.)

3.8% of GDP (2019 est.) (approximately $2.81 billion)

3.9% of GDP (2018 est.) (approximately $2.84 billion)

4% of GDP (2017 est.) (approximately $2.81 billion)

Military and security service personnel strengths

approximately 35,000 active duty personnel (25,000 Army; 5,000 Navy; 5,000 Air Force); estimated 10,000 National Guard (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Tunisian military's inventory includes mostly older or second-hand US and European equipment; since 2010, the Netherlands and US have been the leading suppliers of arms to Tunisia (2022)

Military service age and obligation

20-23 years of age for male compulsory service, 1-year service obligation; individuals engaged in higher education or vocational training programs prior to their military drafting are allowed to delay service until they have completed their programs; 18-23 years of age for voluntary service; women may volunteer (2022)

note 1: as of 2021, approximately 20-25,000 active military personnel were conscripts

note 2: women have been allowed in the service since 1975 as volunteers only, although as recently as 2018, the Tunisian Government has discussed the possibility of conscripting women; as of 2018, women constituted less than 7% of the military and served in all three services

Military deployments

325 Central African Republic (MINUSCA); 100 Mali (MINUSMA) (May 2022)

Military - note

as of 2022, the Tunisian military’s primary operational areas of focus were counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, and border security; it was conducting counterterrorism and counterinsurgency operations against al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and Islamic State of ash-Sham (ISIS)-linked militants who have been fighting a low-intensity insurgency, mostly in the mountainous region along the border with Algeria, particularly the Chaambi Mountains near the city of Kasserine; the military maintained the lead role for security in this area and also routinely conducted joint operations with Algerian security forces against these groups, as well to counter smuggling and trafficking activities; the military in recent years also has increased its role in securing the southern border against militant activity, smuggling, and trafficking from war-torn Libya; since 2015, Tunisia has constructed a complex structure of berms, trenches, and water-filled moats, complemented by electronic surveillance equipment such as motion detectors, ground surveillance radars, and infrared sensors along the 220-kilometer border with Libya; in the remote southern areas of the border with Libya, buffer/exclusion zones have also been established where the military has the lead for counterterrorism efforts; outside of these border areas, the Ministry of Interior (MOI) has the lead responsibility for counter-terrorism in Tunisia, particularly for urban areas; the National Police Anti-Terrorism Brigade (BAT) and the National Guard Special Unit have the lead for MOI counterterrorism operations

Tunisia has Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status with the US; MNNA is a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation; while MNNA status provides military and economic privileges, it does not entail any security commitments (2022)

NOTE: The information regarding Tunisia on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Tunisia 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Tunisia 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.