UN Report: Morocco Makes Significant Progress in Reducing Multidimensional Poverty Despite 2.4 Million Remaining Under Its Threshold
A recent Global Multidimensional Poverty Index Report for 2025, released by the United Nations Development Programme and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, indicates that Morocco has made substantial progress in combating various forms of poverty over recent years. However, approximately 2.4 million Moroccans continue to live in poverty according to 2023 data.
Based on the latest available data from the Arab Population and Family Health Survey for 2017/2018, the report reveals that the percentage of the population experiencing multidimensional poverty was 6.4%, marking a significant decline from 17.3% reported in the 2011 survey. This decrease reflects the kingdom’s success in lifting millions of citizens from the clutches of compounded poverty.
The 6.4% figure translates to around 2.28 million individuals facing multidimensional poverty in 2017/2018, down from 5.68 million in 2011. The report estimates that by 2023, the number is approximately 2.4 million people.
Progress has not only been about reducing poverty rates but also included the intensity of deprivation faced by the poor. The average severity dropped from 45.5% in 2011 to 42% in 2017/2018, and the proportion of the population suffering from severe poverty (defined as deprivation in half or more indicators) declined to 1.4%.
The report indicates that improvements in Morocco were comprehensive, encompassing all ten sub-indicators that make up the Multidimensional Poverty Index. Between 2011 and 2017/2018, the percentage of the poor lacking adequate nutrition fell from 6.3% to 1.4%, and those deprived due to child mortality dropped from 3.7% to 1.4%.
In the education sector, the deprivation related to years of schooling fell from 13.7% to 5.3%, and the deprivation concerning school attendance decreased from 5.4% to 2.1%.
Clear improvements were also noted under living standards indicators:
- Cooking fuel: from 5.5% to 1.1%
- Sanitation: from 8.8% to 3.7%
- Drinking water: from 6.4% to 2.5%
- Electricity: from 2.5% to 1.1%
- Housing: from 5.3% to 1.1%
- Assets: from 1.9% to 0.3%
The report confirms that Morocco was one of only 11 countries globally that achieved a statistically significant reduction in adjusted deprivation rates across all sub-indicators during the studied period, highlighting it as a positive model in reducing multidimensional poverty.
The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is measured across three main dimensions: health, education, and living standards, encompassing ten sub-indicators that capture overlapping deprivations, thereby providing a more comprehensive and accurate picture of poverty that goes beyond mere cash income measurements.
