Tunisia has around 12 million people -- a population that is in practice a long mix of Berber, Arab, Phoenician, Roman and Ottoman influences. Official categories describe Tunisians as overwhelmingly Arab, but genetic and cultural evidence suggests most Tunisians have deep Amazigh (Berber) ancestry that centuries of Arabisation have overlaid. The Berber language (Tamazight) is still spoken in a handful of southern villages -- including Chenini, Matmata and parts of Jerba -- but is not officially recognised.
About 98% of the population is Muslim. Tunisia has always been a relatively moderate version of Islam: alcohol is legally sold, women have had the right to divorce since 1956, and polygamy was banned at independence. The country's Jewish community -- one of the oldest in the world -- is centred on Jerba, where the El Ghriba synagogue draws pilgrims from across the diaspora every spring.
The 2011 revolution (the first of the Arab Spring uprisings) toppled President Ben Ali after 23 years in power. Tunisia went on to produce a functioning democratic constitution in 2014, though subsequent years have seen the drift back toward more concentrated executive power. Regardless of the politics, Tunisians you meet tend to be proud of their country's relative stability and open culture compared to regional neighbours.
Arabic is the official language, with Tunisian Arabic (Darija) the everyday spoken form -- distinct enough from Egyptian or Levantine Arabic that speakers from elsewhere sometimes struggle. French is a genuine second language, used in business, education and government, and understood almost universally. In tourist areas English is increasingly common, but French remains far more useful outside the main resorts.