Tunisia is a republic on the Mediterranean coast of North Africa. The shares borders with Algeria to the west and Libya to the southeast. Of some 164,000 sq km it is the smallest nation situated along the Atlas Mountains, and has a population of 9.8 million.
Around 40% of Tunisia is the Sahara Desert. Tunisia also has considerable geographical diversity have low rolling hills and plains in the Tell, and Sahil, a plain along the coast, and much in the south is semi-arid and desert. The climate is temperate in the north with hot dry summers and mild rainy winters.