Just released figures show clear improvement of the standard of living of the Tunisian population and a substantial decrease in the rate of poverty to 4.2 percent, while the middle class rate hiked up to 80 percent, Tunisia Online reported.
The new figures were made public at a press briefing held by Economic Development minister Abdellatif Saddam on the preliminary results yielded by the 7th national survey on Tunisian households’ expenses, consumption and standard of living for the year 2000.
The minister said that the first results show a clear improvement in Tunisian households’ standard of living, as illustrated by the increase of individual expenses at an annual average of seven percent between 1995 and 2000, and a 10 percent rise in individual expenses in rural areas.
This trend helped further reduce the gap between the different social categories as far as the standard of living of living is concerned, the news service said.
The rate of poverty also decreased to 4.2 percent in the year 2000 (compared with 6.6 percent in 1995) and the number of citizens living under the threshold of poverty in the year 2000 was around 400,000 in a population of more than 10 million – Albawaba.com
