Morocco People - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Population

36,561,813 (July 2021 est.)

note: includes Western Sahara

Nationality

noun: Moroccan(s)

adjective: Moroccan

Ethnic groups

Arab-Berber 99%, other 1%

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Languages

Arabic (official), Berber languages (Tamazight (official), Tachelhit, Tarifit), French (often the language of business, government, and diplomacy); note - the proportion of Berber speakers is disputed; does not include data from the former Western Sahara

printed major-language sample:
كتاب ديال لحقائق متاع العالم، احسن مصدر متاع المعلومات الأساسية (Arabic)

The World Factbook, the indispensable source for basic information.

Religions

Muslim 99% (official; virtually all Sunni,
note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

MENA religious affiliation

Demographic profile

Morocco is undergoing a demographic transition. Its population is growing but at a declining rate, as people live longer and women have fewer children. Infant, child, and maternal mortality rates have been reduced through better health care, nutrition, hygiene, and vaccination coverage, although disparities between urban and rural and rich and poor households persist. Morocco’s shrinking child cohort reflects the decline of its total fertility rate from 5 in mid-1980s to 2.2 in 2010, which is a result of increased female educational attainment, higher contraceptive use, delayed marriage, and the desire for smaller families. Young adults (persons aged 15-29) make up almost 26% of the total population and represent a potential economic asset if they can be gainfully employed. Currently, however, many youths are unemployed because Morocco’s job creation rate has not kept pace with the growth of its working-age population. Most youths who have jobs work in the informal sector with little security or benefits.

During the second half of the 20th century, Morocco became one of the world’s top emigration countries, creating large, widely dispersed migrant communities in Western Europe. The Moroccan Government has encouraged emigration since its independence in 1956, both to secure remittances for funding national development and as an outlet to prevent unrest in rebellious (often Berber) areas. Although Moroccan labor migrants earlier targeted Algeria and France, the flood of Moroccan "guest workers" from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s spread widely across northwestern Europe to fill unskilled jobs in the booming manufacturing, mining, construction, and agriculture industries. Host societies and most Moroccan migrants expected this migration to be temporary, but deteriorating economic conditions in Morocco related to the 1973 oil crisis and tighter European immigration policies resulted in these stays becoming permanent.

A wave of family migration followed in the 1970s and 1980s, with a growing number of second generation Moroccans opting to become naturalized citizens of their host countries. Spain and Italy emerged as new destination countries in the mid-1980s, but their introduction of visa restrictions in the early 1990s pushed Moroccans increasingly to migrate either legally by marrying Moroccans already in Europe or illegally to work in the underground economy. Women began to make up a growing share of these labor migrants. At the same time, some higher-skilled Moroccans went to the US and Quebec, Canada.

In the mid-1990s, Morocco developed into a transit country for asylum seekers from Sub-Saharan Africa and illegal labor migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia trying to reach Europe via southern Spain, Spain’s Canary Islands, or Spain’s North African enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla. Forcible expulsions by Moroccan and Spanish security forces have not deterred these illegal migrants or calmed Europe’s security concerns. Rabat remains unlikely to adopt an EU agreement to take back third-country nationals who have entered the EU illegally via Morocco. Thousands of other illegal migrants have chosen to stay in Morocco until they earn enough money for further travel or permanently as a "second-best" option. The launching of a regularization program in 2014 legalized the status of some migrants and granted them equal access to education, health care, and work, but xenophobia and racism remain obstacles.

Age structure

0-14 years: 27.04% (male 4,905,626/female 4,709,333)

15-24 years: 16.55% (male 2,953,523/female 2,930,708)

25-54 years: 40.64% (male 7,126,781/female 7,325,709)

55-64 years: 8.67% (male 1,533,771/female 1,548,315)

65 years and over: 7.11% (male 1,225,307/female 1,302,581) (2020 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Dependency ratios

total dependency ratio: 52.4

youth dependency ratio: 40.8

elderly dependency ratio: 11.6

potential support ratio: 8.6 (2020 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Median age

total: 29.1 years

male: 28.7 years

female: 29.6 years (2020 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Population growth rate

0.92% (2021 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Birth rate

17.58 births/1,000 population (2021 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Death rate

6.53 deaths/1,000 population (2021 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Net migration rate

-1.83 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2021 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Population distribution

the highest population density is found along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts; a number of densely populated agglomerations are found scattered through the Atlas Mountains as shown in this population distribution map

Urbanization

urban population: 64.1% of total population (2021)

rate of urbanization: 1.88% annual rate of change (2020-25 est.)

note:  data does not include former Western Sahara

total population growth rate v. urban population growth rate, 2000-2030

Major urban areas - population

3.794 million Casablanca, 1.907 million RABAT (capital), 1.245 million Fes, 1.238 million Tangier, 1.017 million Marrakech, 942,000 Agadir (2021)

Sex ratio

at birth: 1.05 male(s)/female

0-14 years: 1.04 male(s)/female

15-24 years: 1.01 male(s)/female

25-54 years: 0.97 male(s)/female

55-64 years: 0.99 male(s)/female

65 years and over: 0.94 male(s)/female

total population: 1 male(s)/female (2020 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Maternal mortality rate

70 deaths/100,000 live births (2017 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Infant mortality rate

total: 19 deaths/1,000 live births

male: 21.27 deaths/1,000 live births

female: 16.62 deaths/1,000 live births (2021 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Life expectancy at birth

total population: 73.56 years

male: 71.87 years

female: 75.34 years (2021 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Total fertility rate

2.29 children born/woman (2021 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Contraceptive prevalence rate

70.8% (2018)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Drinking water source

improved: urban: 98.3% of population

rural: 79.1% of population

total: 91% of population

unimproved: urban: 1.7% of population

rural: 20.9% of population

total: 9% of population (2017 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Current Health Expenditure

5.3% (2018)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Physicians density

0.73 physicians/1,000 population (2017)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Hospital bed density

1 beds/1,000 population (2017)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Sanitation facility access

improved: urban: 99.1% of population

rural: 81.1% of population

total: 92.2% of population

unimproved: urban: 0.9% of population

rural: 18.9% of population

total: 7.3% of population (2017 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate

<.1 est.>
note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS

22,000 (2020 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

HIV/AIDS - deaths

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Major infectious diseases

note: clusters of cases of a respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are occurring in Morocco; as of 24 January 2021, Morocco has reported a total of 465,769 cases of COVID-19 or 1,261.9 cumulative cases of COVID-19 per 100,000 population with 22.0 cumulative deaths per 100,000 population

Obesity - adult prevalence rate

26.1% (2016)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Children under the age of 5 years underweight

2.6% (2017/18)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Education expenditures

NA

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Literacy

definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 73.8%

male: 83.3%

female: 64.6% (2018)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

School life expectancy (primary to tertiary education)

total: 14 years

male: 14 years

female: 14 years (2019)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

Unemployment, youth ages 15-24

total: 22.2%

male: 22%

female: 22.8% (2016 est.)

note: does not include data from the former Western Sahara

NOTE: The information regarding Morocco on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Morocco 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Morocco 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.