Tunis is the capital and largest city of Tunisia. Tunis was built at the end of the shallow Lake of Tunis, an inlet of the Gulf of Tunis, and is linked with its port, ?alq al-W?d?, 6 miles (10 km) to the northeast. The greater metropolitan area of Tunis, often referred to as "Grand Tunis", has about 2,700,000 inhabitants, making it the third-largest city in the Maghreb region (after Casablanca and Algiers) and the sixteenth-largest in the Arab world.

Situated on a large Mediterranean Sea gulf (the Gulf of Tunis), behind the Lake of Tunis and the port of La Goulette (?alq il-W?d), the city extends along the coastal plain and the hills that surround it. At its core lies its ancient medina, a World Heritage Site. East of the medina through the Sea Gate (also known as the Bab el Bhar and the Porte de France) begins the modern city, or Ville Nouvelle, traversed by the grand Avenue Habib Bourguiba (often referred to by popular press and travel guides as "the Tunisian Champs-Élysées"), where the colonial-era buildings provide a clear contrast to smaller, older structures. Further east by the sea lie the suburbs of Carthage, La Marsa, and Sidi Bou Said. As the capital city of the country, Tunis is the focus of Tunisian political and administrative life; it is also the centre of the country's commercial and cultural activities. It has two cultural centres, as well as a municipal theatre that is used by international theatre groups and a summer festival, the International Festival of Carthage, which is held in July.
 

• In 2015, an estimated 2.2 million people lived in Tunis city or nearby built-up urban areas. Combining the perimeters for Tunis and the surrounding built-up areas cover a total 170 square miles (440 square kilometers)
• At the country level, Tunisia’s land area covers 59,985 square miles (155,360 square kilometers). The national population count was 11.1 million inhabitants as of July 2016
• Population density is much more concentrated within Tunisia’s capital city with an average 13,200 residents per square mile (5,100 per square kilometer)
• Within the vast Grand Tunis metropolitan region, density diminishes to an average 2,600 people per square mile (1,000 per square kilometer) for Tunis’s greater metropolitan area
• Tunisia exported an estimated US$13.8 billion worth of goods around the globe in 2016. Highest-value Tunisian exports are insulated wire or cable, olive oil, petroleum oil, clothing and electrical circuitry equipment
   

unis has been the capital of Tunisia since 1159. Under Articles 43 and 24 of the Constitution of 1959, Tunis and its suburbs host the national institutions: the Presidential Palace, which is known as Carthage Palace, residence of the President of Tunisia, the Chamber of Deputies and the Chamber of Advisors and parliament, the Constitutional Council and the main judicial institutions and public bodies. The revised Tunisian Constitution of 2014 similarly provides that the National Assembly is to sit in Tunis (article 51) and that the Presidency is based there (article 73). Following the municipal elections of 6 May 2018, Ennahdha obtained 21 seats out of 60. Nidaa Tounes came second with 17 seats. On 3 July 2018, the head of the Ennahdha list Souad Abderrahim was elected by the council as the new mayor of the capital. Before 2011, unlike other mayors in Tunisia, the mayor of Tunis was appointed by decree of the President of the Republic from among the members of the City Council. The 2008 budget adopted by the City Council is structured as follows: 61.61 million dinars for operations and 32,516 million dinars for investment.

It reflects the improved financial situation of the municipality, the year 2007 was a year registering a surplus in resources that allowed the settlement of debts of the municipality and the strengthening of its credibility with respect to its suppliers and public and private partners. Revenues are generated by the proceeds of taxes on buildings and vacant lots, fees for the rental of municipal property, income from the operation of the public, advertising, and the fact that the municipality has capital shares in some companies. On the expenditure side, provision is made for the consolidation of hygiene and cleanliness, the state of the environment and urban design, infrastructure maintenance, rehabilitation and renovation of facilities, and strengthening the logistics and means of work and transport.

The city of Tunis, whose size has increased significantly during the second half of the 20th century, now extends beyond the Tunis Governorate into parts of the governorates of Ben Arous, Ariana and Manouba. The municipality of Tunis is divided into 15 municipal districts: These include El Bab Bhar, Bab Souika, Cité El Khadra, Jelloud Jebel El Kabaria, El Menzah, El Ouardia, Ettahrir, Ezzouhour, Hraïria, Medina, El Omrane, El Omrane Higher Séjoumi, Sidi El-Bashir and Sidi Hassine.
 

Products include textiles, carpets, and olive oil. Tourism also provides a significant portion of the city's income. Because of the concentration of political authority and culture , Tunis is the only nationally ranking metropolis. Tunis is the heartland of the Tunisian economy and is the industrial and economic hub of the country, home to one third of Tunisian companies—including almost all the head offices of companies with more than fifty employees, with the exception of the Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa, headquartered in Gafsa—and produces a third of the national gross domestic product.

Tunis attracts foreign investors , excluding several areas due to economic imbalances. The urban unemployment rate of university graduates is increasing and the illiteracy rate remains high among the elderly .The number of people living below the poverty line, falling at the national level, remains higher in urban areas. In addition, unemployment is high in young people aged 18 to 24, with one in three unemployed as compared to one in six at the national level. In Greater Tunis, the proportion of young unemployed is at 35%.Gulf finance house or GFH has invested $10 billion in order for the construction of tunis financial harbor, that will transform Tunisia as the gateway to Africa from Europe. The project hopes to boost the economy of Tunisia as well as increase the number of tourists visiting Tunisia annually. The city is the largest financial center in the country hosting the headquarters of 65% of financial companies – while the industrial sectors are gradually declining in importance.

However the secondary industry is still very represented and Tunis hosts 85% of industrial establishments in the four governorates, with a trend towards the spread of specialized industrial zones in the suburbs. Primary industry such as agriculture, however, is active in specialized agricultural areas on the suburbs, particularly in the wine and olive oil industries. The generally flat terrain and the two main rivers in Tunisia, the Medjerda to the north and the Milian to the south, the soils are fertile. Tunis has several large plains, the most productive are in Ariana and La Soukra , the plain of Manouba and the plain of Mornag . In addition, groundwater is easily accessible through the drilling of deep wells, providing water for the different agriculture crops.
 

Tunis is served by the Tunis-Carthage International Airport. The growing metropolitan area is served by an extensive network of public transportation including buses, an above-ground light rail system , as well a regional train line that links the city centre to its closest northern suburbs. Multi-lane autoroutes surround the city and serve the increasing number of privately owned cars one encounters in Tunisia. The Tunis area is served by the métro léger and TGM , as well as bus services, and is linked to other places in Tunisia by SNCFT, the national railways. The important transport authorities are the Société des Transports de Tunis [and the Ministry of Transport The A1 motorway connects Tunis with Sfax to the south, and the A3 with Oued Zarga and Béja to the west, while the A4 is the link with Bizerte.

The city has, as of the beginning of the 21st century, a public transportation system developed under the management of the Société des transports de Tunis . In addition to some 200 bus routes, the first light rail line opened in 1985. A new mass transit was planned for Greater Tunis in 2009. This was the RTS , the local equivalent of the Paris RER, which was to carry tens of thousands of travellers from the distant suburbs of Tunis to the centre by using either existing tracks or new tracks yet to be built. The plan was for lines based on certain criteria such as population density and the lack of coverage for a given area. Among the priority lines were: Tunis-Borj Cédria where modernization and electrification are already planned; Tunis-Mohamedia-Fouchana ; Tunis-Manouba-Mnihla ; Tunis-Ezzouhour-Sidi Hassine Séjoumi . In addition, the TGM will be integrated into the light-rail network and a new line built around Ayn Zaghouan and Bhar Lazrag . Such an operation would require the upgrading of the docks' TGM stations so that they become suitable for light rail trains.[81] Among other projects are a line to the city of Ennasr and the extension of the Tunis-Ettadhamen to Mnihla . For its part, the south light-rail line was extended in November 2008 to El Mourouj with a length of 6.8 kilometres . The terminal had 4.4 million passengers in 2006. In 2007 that increased to 6 million passengers with a rise in tourism to the city. After independence, in the 1960s, the National Board of Seaports, which supports all ports in the country, modernized the infrastructure of the port of Tunis.

In the 21st Century, the port of Tunis underwent further transformation with a marina as part of the redevelopment district of La Petite Sicile. Tunis is the starting point from which the main roads and all highways that serve different parts of the country of Tunis originate. This city has a high density of traffic because vehicle ownership is rising at 7.5% per year. The capital is home to approximately 40% of the cars in Tunisia, with 700,000 cars on average used in the city per day. In this context, major road infrastructure was initiated in the late 1990s to decongest the main areas of the capital.