Tunisia ranks fourth in Africa in the 2025 edition of the Digital Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Index (DEE), recently published by The Vienna Institute for Global Studies, which assesses the performance of digital entrepreneurship ecosystems in 170 countries around the world.
With a score of 31.2, Tunisia ranks 87th in the world and fourth in Africa, behind South Africa (43.4 points, 59th in the world), Mauritius (42.5 points, 60th), and Morocco (32.5 points, 83rd), but ahead of Egypt (29.5 points, 92nd). This ranking highlights Tunisia’s position among the most advanced African economies in terms of digital entrepreneurship, while illustrating the persistent gaps between the leading countries and the rest of the continent.
An intermediate position in the Arab world
Compared to Arab countries, Tunisia is behind the main Gulf economies, which largely dominate the regional ranking. The UAE leads the Arab world (60.2 points, 34th globally), followed by Saudi Arabia (47.8 points, 48th), Qatar (47.7 points, 50th) and Bahrain (47.0 points, 53rd), benefiting from significant investments, advanced digital infrastructure and favorable regulatory environments.
Tunisia, however, places itself ahead of several Arab countries, notably Egypt (29.5 points, 92nd), Algeria (23.2 points, 111th), Lebanon (24.9 points, 106th) and Iraq (20.0 points, 117th), which gives it an intermediate position in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) space, between highly capitalized oil economies and those facing structural constraints. persistent.
A global hierarchy dominated by advanced economies
Globally, the ranking is largely dominated by high-income countries. The United States comes out on top with a score of 87.9, followed by Denmark and the United Kingdom (84.8 each). Europe confirms its preeminence with five countries in the top ten, alongside Singapore, the only Asian economy in the leading group.
This performance is based on mature digital ecosystems, massive access to venture capital, strong institutions and strong adoption of digital services by citizens and businesses.
Africa, rapid but uneven progress
The report highlights significant progress on the African continent between 2017 and 2022. Although Africa remains the worst performing region in absolute terms, it shows the strongest global relative growth, with a cumulative increase of more than 42% in the DEE score.
This dynamic reflects progress in digital infrastructure, connectivity and digital uses, even if many African countries remain concentrated at the bottom of the world ranking due to persistent deficits in financing, institutional capacities and support for entrepreneurship.
A catch-up trajectory to be consolidated for Tunisia
In this context, Tunisia’s fourth African position reflects real assets, particularly in human capital and entrepreneurial culture, but also significant room for improvement. The report highlights that historically lagging regions are now experiencing faster growth rates, suggesting a gradual process of digital convergence.
For Tunisia, the challenge now lies in the consolidation of these achievements through targeted public policies, better access to financing and sustainable strengthening of the entrepreneurial ecosystem, in order to transform this relative progress into lasting structural gains.
I.N.
