In Tunisia, the contributory social insurance for pension and other kinds of benefits differs in the public and private sectors and is implemented through two schemes managed by two distinct funds. The National Pension and Social Insurance fund (CNRPS) covers the public sector, while the National Social Security Fund (CNSS) serves the private sector.
Based on a social contract between the state and society, Tunisia has offered free and universal services since its independence, such as healthcare and education, subsidized food and energy, and public sector job guarantees for graduates (Assaad, 2014; El Haddad, 2020). However, the economic and structural reforms of the 1980s and 90s led to the hollowing out of the middle class, the concentration of poverty and unemployment in interior regions, the emergence of the informal sector, and the exclusion of a large part of the population from any form of formal social protection. Ultimately, frustrations with the broken social contract fed into social tension and protests and gave rise to a popular revolution in 2010.
