Report: The Number of Poor People in Morocco Decreases to 2.5 Million
According to a study by the High Commission for Planning titled “Map of Multidimensional Poverty, Territorial Landscape, and Dynamics,” multidimensional poverty in Morocco exhibited a notable decline between 2014 and 2024.
The commission highlighted in this study, based on data from the general population and housing censuses of 2014 and 2024, that “at the national level, the percentage of the population in poverty declined from 11.9% to 6.8%. In absolute terms, the number of poor people decreased from around 4 million to 2.5 million.”
Alongside this decrease, the intensity of poverty, measured by the average deprivation experienced by the poor, saw a slight decline from 38.1% to 36.7%. The same source noted that by combining these two declines, the multidimensional poverty index, which generalizes forms of deprivation across the population, nearly halved, from 4.5% to 2.5% over this decade. The commission emphasized that despite these gains, significant regional disparities remain, noting that multidimensional poverty is primarily a rural phenomenon.
In 2024, about 72% of the poor lived in rural areas, down from 79% in 2014. During the same period, the poverty rate in rural areas fell from 23.6% to 13.1%, yet it still exceeds more than four times the rate recorded in urban areas, which stood at 3.0% in 2024, compared to 4.1% in 2014. The vulnerability rate concerning multidimensional poverty, reflecting the percentage of the population exposed to moderate deprivation across 20% to 33% of the included indicators, also fell from 11.7% in 2014 to 8.1% in 2024. These figures represent nearly three million people still in a vulnerable situation, among whom 82% reside in rural areas.
This significant concentration of vulnerability in rural areas poses a genuine risk of households sliding back into poverty. The mentioned study revealed that all regions of the kingdom recorded a decline in the multidimensional poverty rate over the last decade, with notable reductions particularly in areas that were initially the most affected. The most significant declines were seen in the Marrakech-Safi region (a drop of 7.9 percentage points), Beni Mellal-Khenifra (7.5 points), Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (6.8 points), and Drâa-Tafilalet (6.7 points) – regions that recorded high poverty levels in 2014.
In contrast, the southern regions and major urban centers, which had low poverty rates, experienced limited declines, registering a decrease of 0.9 points for Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra, 2.0 points for Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab, 2.4 points for Casablanca-Settat, and 3.4 points for Rabat-Salé-Kénitra. In 2024, six regions recorded multidimensional poverty rates exceeding the national average (6.8%), with the highest at 9.8% in Beni Mellal-Khenifra and 9.0% in Fès-Meknès. Conversely, Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra (2.4%) and Dakhla-Oued Ed Dahab (2.5%) recorded the lowest rates nationally. The commission further indicated that nearly 70% of all poor people are concentrated in five regions: Fès-Meknès (16.2% of the poor), Marrakech-Safi (15.7%), Casablanca-Settat (13.5%), Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (11.9%), and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima (11.5%). Vulnerability to poverty still exhibits clear regional disparities, with two regions recording double-digit rates – Drâa-Tafilalet at 11.8% and Marrakech-Safi at 11.5%. Three other regions also recorded rates surpassing the national average of 8.1%, namely Fès-Meknès at 9.1%, Beni Mellal-Khenifra at 9.0%, and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima at 8.8%. These five regions encompass nearly 60% of the population in vulnerable situations, amounting to approximately 1.7 million people.
The approach to measuring absolute poverty, based solely on the social distribution of household expenditures, reflects only a partial aspect of living reality, overlooking deprivations related to education, health, housing, and access to basic social services.
Conversely, the multidimensional poverty approach considers the deprivations households face, which are not limited to purchasing power but also encompass difficulties in accessing basic needs. This approach relies on three main dimensions: education, health, and living conditions, weighted equally. A household is classified as poor if the accumulation of deprivation constitutes at least 33% of the included indicators. By surpassing the purely monetary perspective of poverty, this shift in the adopted approach highlights social deficits affecting quality of life, along with disparities not captured by monetary indicators.
The map of multidimensional poverty, developed by the High Commission for Planning, aims for a more precise understanding of deprivation linked to social deficits in terms of education, health, housing, and access to essential infrastructure. It provides a comprehensive reading of structural vulnerability and social disparities at regional, provincial, and communal levels. Within the context of advanced regionalization, this map serves as a practical tool to guide appropriate policies tailored to the specificities of each territory, with the aim of improving living conditions for the population.
