Morocco
Name
| Official name | Kingdom of Morocco — al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah (المملكة المغربية) · Tageldit n Lmeghrib (ⵜⴰⴳⵍⴷⵉⵜ ⵏ ⵍⵎⵖⵔⵉⴱ) · Royaume du Maroc |
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| Former names | The Sharifian Empire, the Cherifian Sultanate of the Alaouites (1666–1957); the French and Spanish protectorates of Morocco (1912–56) with the Tangier International Zone (1924–56); Mauretania Tingitana of Rome; al-Maghrib al-Aqsa, "the farthest west," of the Arab geographers |
| Demonym | Moroccan |
| Meaning of the name | Al-Maghrib — "the west," the place of the sunset, the Arabic name of the whole Maghreb narrowed to its farthest kingdom; Morocco from Marrakesh, "the land of God" in Berber by one reading, the capital of the Almoravids, through the Portuguese Marrocos and the Spanish Marruecos |
| Motto | "Allah, al-Waṭan, al-Malik" — God, Homeland, King; written on the hillsides |
Quick facts
| Capital | Rabat — the Almohad ribat of the 12th century, the capital since 1912; about 580,000 in the city, 2 million with Salé; a World Heritage site since 2012 |
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| Largest cities | Casablanca, about 3.7 million, the economic capital and the largest city of the Maghreb; Fez, the imperial city of the largest medina; Tangier, about 1.2 million, the port of the strait; Marrakesh, the red city; Salé; Meknes; Rabat; Agadir; Oujda; Kenitra; Tetouan; Laayoune of the Sahara |
| Official languages | Arabic — the modern standard of the state and the Darija of the street, spoken by nine in ten; Tamazight — the Berber of the Rif, the Middle Atlas and the Souss in its Tarifit, Tamazight and Tachelhit forms, official since the Constitution of 2011 in the Tifinagh script, the mother tongue of a quarter by the census of 2024, the Amazigh New Year a holiday since 2024; French the language of business, the universities and the elite, Spanish in the north, English rising in the schools |
| Currency | Moroccan dirham — MAD, DH; 100 centimes; since 1959; about 9.3 to the U.S. dollar, pegged to a basket of the euro and the dollar |
| Time zone | Greenwich Mean Time, UTC+0, all year since 20 September 2026 — the decree of 25 June 2026 that ended the permanent UTC+1 of October 2018, itself suspended each Ramadan, "a definitive decision," the government said; the Western Sahara the same |
| Calling code | +212 — the number of the Gen Z 212 movement |
| Internet domain | .ma and .المغرب |
| ISO 3166 codes | MA · MAR · 504 |
| Vehicle registration code | MA |
| Driving side | Right |
| Electricity | 220 V, 50 Hz; plug types C and E |
| Independence | 2 March 1956, from France by the declaration of Paris ending the protectorate of 1912; 7 April 1956, from Spain; Tangier's international zone returned 29 October 1956; the Independence Day of 18 November for Mohammed V's return from exile on 16 November 1955 and his speech of 18 November; the sultanate a state since 788 |
| National days | 18 November, Independence Day; 30 July, Throne Day, for Mohammed VI's accession of 1999; 11 January, the Independence Manifesto of 1944; 14 January, the Amazigh New Year, Yennayer, a holiday since 2024; 6 November, the Green March; 20 August, the Revolution of the King and the People; 21 August, Youth Day, the king's birthday; 14 August, Oued Ed-Dahab Day; 1 May; the Eids, the Islamic New Year and the Prophet's birthday |
| Constitution | 1 July 2011 — the sixth Constitution, approved by referendum with 98% on the day the Arab Spring reached the kingdom, in force 29 July 2011: the king the head of state, Commander of the Faithful, commander of the forces and president of the Council of Ministers, with the sovereign domains of religion, security and the strategic choices; the prime minister named from the party that wins the election as head of government; the Parliament of two houses; Tamazight official; the regions; the Constitution of 1962 the first, revised in 1970, 1972, 1992 and 1996 |
| Population | 36,828,330 at the census of September 2024, from 33,848,242 in 2014; about 37.5 million (2026 est.); the Western Sahara's about 600,000 counted within |
| Area | 446,550 km² (172,414 sq mi) by the international count — land 446,300 km²; 710,850 km² by the kingdom's count with the Western Sahara's 266,000 km² |
Flag & national symbols
| National flag | A red field with a green five-pointed star of interlaced lines at its center — the red of the Alaouite sharifs, descendants of the Prophet, flown by the sultans since the 1600s, the green pentagram, the Seal of Solomon, added by the dahir of 17 November 1915 under the French protectorate so that the sultan's plain red would not be mistaken for a signal flag, its five points read as the five pillars of Islam; unchanged at independence; the flag of 60,000 m² unfurled at Dakhla in 2010 the largest ever made.Flag of Morocco |
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| Coat of arms | A red shield bearing the green pentagram over the Atlas mountains and a rising sun, under the royal crown, held by two golden Barbary lions, with the verse of the Quran on the ribbon beneath, "In tansuru Allah yansurkum," if you glorify God, He will glorify you; adopted 14 August 1957 by Mohammed V, the design of Gauthier and Hainaut |
| National anthem | "Hymne Chérifien" — "an-Nashid ash-Sharif" — the music of the Frenchman Léo Morgan of 1956, the words written by Ali Squalli Houssaini in 1970 for the World Cup of that year, "manbit al-ahrar, mashriq al-anwar," the root of the free, the rising place of the lights; the anthem of the royal guard before |
| National motto | "Allah, al-Waṭan, al-Malik" |
| National colors | Red and green |
| National animal | The Barbary lion — the lion of the Atlas of the arms and the Atlas Lions of the football team, gone from the wild since the last was shot in 1942 and living in the zoos, the Rabat zoo's the purest; the Barbary macaque of the cedar forests; widely cited |
| National bird | The northern bald ibis of the Souss-Massa cliffs, the last wild colony in the world; the Moussier's redstart; widely cited |
| National tree | The argan of the Souss, the tree of the goats and the oil found nowhere else, its biosphere reserve since 1998 and its practices on UNESCO's list since 2014; the Atlas cedar of Ifrane; widely cited |
| National dish | Couscous — the seksu of the Friday table, on UNESCO's list since 2020 with the Maghreb; the tagine of lamb with prunes and of chicken with preserved lemon; the pastilla of pigeon and almonds; the harira soup of Ramadan; the mechoui; the mint tea, the atay, poured from a height; the msemen and the khobz; widely cited |
| National sport | Football — the Atlas Lions of the Cup of Nations of 1976 and of 2025, the World Cup of 2022 where they beat Belgium, Spain and Portugal to reach the semifinal, the first African and Arab team ever, the hosts of 2030 with Spain and Portugal; the tbourida, the fantasia of the horsemen's volley, on UNESCO's list since 2021; the running of El Guerrouj and El Bakkali; widely cited |
| Symbol status | The flag by the dahir of 1915 and the Constitution; the arms by the dahir of 1957; the anthem by the dahir of 1970; the animals, birds, tree, dishes and sports widely cited |
Geography
| Location | Northwest Africa — the Maghreb — on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, 14 km from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar at Tangier; Algeria to the east, the Western Sahara and Mauritania to the south; the Atlas the spine, the Sahara the hinterland |
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| Land borders | 3,523 km (2,189 mi) — Algeria 1,900, the border closed since 1994 and the ties cut since 24 August 2021; the Western Sahara 444 by the international line; Spain 18.5 at the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, the fences of the migrants, the mass crossing of 30 July 2026 with 72 dead in the sea, "super-Spanish," the Spanish defense minister said of the enclaves on 12 August; Mauritania 1,564 beyond the Sahara by the kingdom's count; the Peñón de Vélez the shortest border on earth at 85 m |
| Coastline | 1,835 km (1,140 mi) on the two seas by the international count, about 3,000 with the Sahara — the Mediterranean of Tangier, Tetouan, Al Hoceima and Nador; the Atlantic of Rabat, Casablanca, El Jadida, Essaouira, Agadir and Dakhla; the Strait of Gibraltar and Tanger Med; the sardine shoals of the cold current; the surf of Taghazout |
| Highest point | Jbel Toubkal, 4,167 m (13,671 ft), in the High Atlas — the highest peak of North Africa and the Arab world |
| Lowest point | The Sebkha Tah, −55 m (−180 ft), in the Western Sahara; the sea on the country proper |
| Mean elevation | 909 m (2,982 ft) |
| Rivers | The Draa, 1,100 km, the longest, from the High Atlas past Ouarzazate and Zagora to the Atlantic, dry for most of its course; the Sebou, 496 km, the largest by flow, through the Gharb plain to Kenitra; the Moulouya, 520 km, to the Mediterranean at the Algerian line; the Oum Er-Rbia, 555 km, of the dams; the Tensift of Marrakesh; the Bou Regreg of Rabat; the Ziz of the Tafilalt oases; the Souss of the argan |
| Lakes | The reservoirs of the 150 dams — Al Wahda on the Ouergha of 1997, the largest, Al Massira on the Oum Er-Rbia, Bin el Ouidane of the Atlas; the natural lakes few, Aguelmame Sidi Ali and Dayet Aoua of the Middle Atlas, Lake Ifni under Toubkal; the Merja Zerga lagoon of the birds; the reservoirs at 5% in the drought of 2024 and refilled by the rains of the winter of 2025–26 |
| Terrain | The Rif along the Mediterranean, the Middle Atlas of the cedars and the lakes, the High Atlas from the Atlantic to the Algerian line with the 4,000-meter peaks and the Tizi n'Tichka pass, the Anti-Atlas of the south; the Atlantic plains of the Gharb, the Chaouia, the Doukkala and the Souss, the farmland; the plateaus of the phosphates; the pre-Saharan valleys of the Draa, the Dades and the Ziz with the kasbahs and the palms; the Sahara of the Erg Chebbi dunes at Merzouga and the hammada |
| Climate | Mediterranean on the coasts, continental inland, desert in the south — Rabat 17°C in the year, Marrakesh 45°C in the summers, the Atlas under snow from November to April and the ski runs of Oukaïmeden; the rain from 800 mm in the Rif to under 100 in the Sahara; the chergui of the desert; the seven-year drought of 2018–25 declared over on 12 January 2026 after the rains filled the dams |
| Natural hazards | Earthquakes — Agadir of 29 February 1960, magnitude 5.7 under the city, 12,000 to 15,000 dead; Al Hoceima of 24 February 2004, 628 dead; the Al Haouz earthquake of 8 September 2023 in the High Atlas, magnitude 6.8, 2,960 dead, the villages of the Atlas flattened, the reconstruction of 120 billion dirhams; the floods of the south of September 2024 with 18 dead at Tata, the storms of late January and February 2026 with 43 dead and 300,000 displaced on the coast; the drought; the locusts; the building collapse of Fez of 21 May 2026 with nine dead |
| Natural resources | Phosphates — about 70% of the world's reserves in the plateaus of Khouribga, Benguerir and Youssoufia and at Boucraa in the Sahara, the OCP the state's giant; silver at Imiter, the largest mine of Africa; cobalt at Bou Azzer; lead, zinc, manganese, fluorspar, barite, copper; the sardines and the octopus; the sun and the wind of the south; the argan, the cedar and the cork oak; the cannabis of the Rif; the land |
| Land use | Agricultural land about 68%, most of it pasture, the arable about 18%; forest about 11%, the cedars, the cork oaks and the argan |
| National parks | 10 — Toubkal of 1942, the first, of the peak and the Barbary sheep; Souss-Massa of the bald ibis; Ifrane of the cedars and the macaques; Tazekka; Talassemtane of the Rif fir; Al Hoceima; Khenifiss of the lagoon; Iriqui of the Draa; Khenifra; Dakhla; the argan biosphere reserve of 1998, the oases biosphere of the south; the Merja Zerga |
| UNESCO World Heritage | 9 — the Medina of Fez (1981), the university of al-Qarawiyyin of 859 and the tanneries; the Medina of Marrakesh (1985), the Koutoubia and the Jemaa el-Fna; the Ksar of Ait-Ben-Haddou (1987), the mud castle of the films; the Historic City of Meknes (1996), Moulay Ismail's capital; Volubilis (1997), the Roman city; the Medina of Tétouan (1997); the Medina of Essaouira (2001); the Portuguese City of Mazagan at El Jadida (2004); Rabat, Modern Capital and Historic City (2012); the Jemaa el-Fna square (2008), the Tan-Tan moussem (2008), the argan practices (2014), the Gnawa (2019), the couscous (2020), the tbourida (2021), the malhun poetry (2023) and the henna (2024) on the intangible list |
| Administrative divisions | 12 regions since the "advanced regionalization" of 2015 — Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma, the Oriental, Fès-Meknès, Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, Béni Mellal-Khénifra, Casablanca-Settat, Marrakech-Safi, Drâa-Tafilalet, Souss-Massa, and the three of the south, Guelmim-Oued Noun, Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab, the last two in the Western Sahara — with elected councils; 75 prefectures and provinces under the walis and governors of the interior ministry; 1,503 communes |
People
| Population | 36,828,330 (census of 2024); about 37.5 million (2026 est.) |
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| Population density | About 84 per km² (218 per sq mi) on the country proper — the Atlantic plains and Casablanca crowded, the Sahara and the Atlas empty |
| Population growth | About 0.85% a year (2014–24), from 1.25% the decade before — the fall of the birth rate the census's surprise |
| Median age | About 30 years |
| Life expectancy | About 77 years |
| Fertility rate | 1.97 births per woman (census of 2024) — below replacement for the first time, from 7 in 1960 |
| Urban population | 62.8% (census of 2024) |
| Adult literacy | About 76% — the women of the countryside the least schooled, the illiteracy of 25% the state's campaign |
| Ethnic groups | Arab-Berber, one people by the state's count and two by the identity — the Arabs of the plains and the cities, the Amazigh of the mountains and the Souss whose language a quarter of the population speaks, the whole a mix of the Berbers of antiquity, the Arabs of the 7th and the 11th centuries, the Andalusians expelled from Spain, the Africans of the caravans and the Jews of two millennia; the Sahrawis of the south; about 150,000 foreigners, French, Spanish and sub-Saharan; no census by ethnicity |
| Languages | Darija, the Moroccan Arabic, by about 90% as the mother tongue or the second; Tamazight by 24.8% as the mother tongue (census of 2024) — Tachelhit of the Souss and the Anti-Atlas, Tamazight of the Middle Atlas, Tarifit of the Rif; French by a third, the language of the boardroom and the medical school; Spanish in the north and the Sahara; English by the young; Hassaniya Arabic in the Sahara; the Judeo-Arabic of the past |
| Religion | Muslim about 99% — Sunni of the Maliki school with the Sufi zawiyas and the moussems of the saints, the king as Commander of the Faithful and the imams trained at the Mohammed VI Institute for the Africans and the Europeans too; Christian about 1%, the foreigners and the converts of the shadows; Jewish about 2,000, the remnant of the 250,000 of 1948 who left for Israel and France, the Jewish museum of Casablanca the only one in the Arab world; the Baha'is and the Shia unrecognized |
| Human Development Index | 0.710 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high; about 120th of 193 |
| The Gen Z 212 protests | The youth demonstrations of 27 September to 18 October 2025 called on Discord and TikTok by the leaderless GenZ 212 collective, named for the country's dialing code, after eight women died in ten days in August in the maternity ward of Agadir's Hassan II hospital — "we want hospitals, not stadiums," "no World Cup, health comes first," in a dozen cities, the largest protests since the Hirak of the Rif of 2016–17 and the 20 February movement of 2011; three killed by the gendarmes' fire at Lqliaa near Agadir on 1 October when a crowd attacked the post, the government said, 326 police injured, more than 2,400 arrested and 1,500 sent to trial; the movement's letter to the king to dismiss the government; "the message has been received," the government spokesman said, and the king's speech to the Parliament of 10 October 2025 that there must be "no inconsistencies or competition" between the flagship projects and the social programs; the unemployment of 12.8% and of 35.8% among the young the numbers beneath |
| Sport | Football — the Atlas Lions of the semifinal of Qatar of 14 December 2022, the first African and Arab side in a World Cup semifinal, Hakimi, Bounou and Regragui; the under-20 world champions of 19 October 2025 in Chile, beating Argentina 2–0; the Cup of Nations of 1976 and of 2025, the final of 18 January 2026 at Rabat lost 1–0 to Senegal after extra time and awarded 3–0 to Morocco on 17 March 2026 by the CAF appeal board, which ruled that Senegal had forfeited by its players' walkout of 17 minutes over the stoppage-time penalty, Senegal's appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the fines and bans of January and the king's pardon of 15 jailed Senegal fans of 23 May; the World Cup of 2030 with Spain and Portugal and the Hassan II Stadium of 115,000 rising at Benslimane; the runners, Nawal El Moutawakel's gold of 1984, the first of an African Muslim woman, Hicham El Guerrouj's double of 2004, Soufiane El Bakkali's steeplechase of 2021 and 2024; the Olympic bronze of the under-23s of Paris |
| Diaspora | About 5.5 million Moroccans abroad — France 1.5 million, Spain 900,000, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, the Gulf, Canada; the million Israelis of Moroccan descent; the remittances of about US$12 billion a year, a tenth of the economy; the "Marocains du monde" of the summer return through Tanger Med; the migrants of the Ceuta fences and the Canary boats the other tide |
Government
| Form of government | Unitary constitutional monarchy under the Constitution of 2011 — the king the head of state with the executive and religious powers of the Commander of the Faithful, the presidency of the Council of Ministers and the sovereign domains; the prime minister named from the election's winner as head of government over the Council of Government; the Parliament of two houses; the Constitutional Court; the Makhzen, the palace and its state, the word for the power behind the elected |
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| King | Mohammed VI, since 23 July 1999 — the third king of independent Morocco and the 23rd sultan of the Alaouite dynasty of the 1660s, born 21 August 1963 at Rabat, the son of Hassan II, a doctor of law of Nice, enthroned 30 July 1999; the reformer of the family code of 2004, the Constitution of 2011 and the "advanced regionalization," the diplomat of the Sahara, the ruler of the strategic ministries and of the wealth of the Al Mada holding, the "king of the poor" of his first years, absent often for his health in the 2020s; Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, born 8 May 2003, the heir; the speech of 10 October 2025 on the social programs, the speech of the Green March of 6 November 2025 offering Algeria and the Sahrawis "a hand extended" |
| Prime Minister | Aziz Akhannouch (National Rally of Independents — RNI), since 7 October 2021 — the seventeenth head of government; born 16 August 1961 at Tafraout in the Souss, the Amazigh billionaire of the Akwa Group of the gas stations and the fuel, the agriculture minister of 2007–21 who wrote the Green Morocco plan of the farms, the RNI's leader from 2016 until 7 February 2026, when Mohamed Chaouki took the party by its two-term rule; the target of the boycott of 2018 and of the Gen Z chants of 2025, "Akhannouch, leave," the government's "access to medical care is improving"; his coalition of the RNI, the Authenticity and Modernity Party and Istiqlal, 270 of the 395 seats, reshuffled 23 October 2024; the candidate of continuity on 23 September 2026 |
| The election of 23 September 2026 | The general election for the 395 seats of the House of Representatives due on 23 September 2026 — 305 from the local constituencies and 90 from the regional lists reserved for women and the young, the seats allotted by a quotient of the registered voters since the reform of 2021 that erased the Islamists; the RNI of Chaouki and Akhannouch on its record of the roads, the ports and the health insurance, the PAM of Fatima Ezzahra El Mansouri, the party founded by the king's friend Fouad Ali El Himma, Istiqlal of Nizar Baraka, the socialists of the USFP, the PJD of Abdelilah Benkirane back from its collapse of 2021 seeking its rehabilitation; "free, orderly and carefully bounded," the analysts' words for the kingdom's elections, the turnout the number to watch against the 50.35% of 2021 and the 43% of 2016, "a governable coalition and a presentable prime minister" the palace's unstated preference; the result the next page |
| The 2021 election | Held 8 September 2021 with the regional and communal votes on the same day: the RNI 27.7% and 102 seats, up 65; the PAM 87; Istiqlal 81; the USFP 34; the Popular Movement 28; the PPS 22; the Constitutional Union 18; the Justice and Development Party, the Islamists who had led the government since 2011, from 125 seats to 13, the new formula counting against them; turnout 50.35%; Akhannouch's government of 7 October 2021 with the PAM and Istiqlal |
| Parliament | The House of Representatives — Majlis an-Nuwwab — 395 members elected for five years by proportional representation in 92 local constituencies and 12 regional lists, Rachid Talbi Alami (RNI) the Speaker since 2021; the House of Councillors of 120 members elected for six years by the regional councils, the professional chambers and the unions, Mohamed Ould Errachid its president; the king's opening of each session in October |
| The next election | The House of Representatives on 23 September 2026; the House of Councillors in 2027; the regional and communal councils in 2027 |
| The Sahara | The Western Sahara, the Spanish colony of 266,000 km² that Morocco entered by the Green March of 6 November 1975 and the Madrid accords of 14 November and has held since against the Polisario Front, the Sahrawi movement backed by Algeria that declared its republic in 1976 and fought until the ceasefire of 6 September 1991 and again since 13 November 2020; the UN mission MINURSO of 1991 with no referendum held; the autonomy plan of 11 April 2007, "the most serious and credible basis" in the words of the United States since 2007 and of Washington's recognition of Moroccan sovereignty of 10 December 2020, of Spain since 18 March 2022, of France since 30 July 2024 and of Britain since 1 June 2025, endorsed by the Security Council in resolution 2797 of 31 October 2025 by 11 votes with Russia, China and Pakistan abstaining and Algeria not voting as the basis of "genuine autonomy under Moroccan sovereignty" — "a historic turning point," the king said on 6 November 2025, the fiftieth anniversary of the march, offering Algeria "a hand extended" and the Sahrawis of the Tindouf camps a return; "an occupation" and "a referendum," the Polisario answers, Algeria the same; Mali's recognition of the Sahrawi republic withdrawn on 10 April 2026 for the plan, the tally of the recognitions falling; the sand berm of 2,700 km, the phosphates of Boucraa, the port of Dakhla Atlantic, the three regions of the south |
| Algeria and Spain | Algeria — the Sand War of October 1963, the border shut since 1994 after the Marrakesh bombing, the diplomatic relations cut by Algiers on 24 August 2021, the gas pipeline through Morocco shut by Algiers on 31 October 2021, the airspace closed, the Sahara the cause and the arms race the cost, Morocco the largest arms importer of Africa by SIPRI's count of 2026; Spain — the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla that Rabat claims and Madrid calls Spanish since 1415 and 1497, the crisis of May 2021 when 8,000 crossed in two days, the Ceuta rush of 30 July 2026 of 50,000 migrants with 72 dead, the military sent and the returns; the strait's tunnel studied since 1979; the Iberian partners of 2030 |
| The powers | The United States — the first country to recognize American independence, in 1777, the treaty of 1786 the oldest unbroken one of the United States, the major non-NATO ally of 2004, the free trade agreement of 2006, the African Lion exercise of 5,000 troops each spring, the 12.5% tariff of 24 July 2026 for "forced labor," the two soldiers dead in the Cap Draa exercise of May 2026, the Atlantic pipeline of US$26 billion taken to Washington in July 2026; France, the old power and the first investor, the tension of 2021–24 and Macron's visit of October 2024 after the Sahara switch; Israel, the relations restored by the accords of 22 December 2020 that the Gaza war strained and the street condemns, the army's drones and the intelligence, Morocco's agreement of 15 July 2026 to join the international stabilization force of Gaza; China of the Tanger Tech city and the car batteries; the Gulf of the money; the African Union rejoined on 30 January 2017 after 33 years away |
| Legal system | Civil law of the French model with Islamic law in the family code — the Moudawana of 2004 that raised the marriage age and gave women the divorce and the reform of 2024–25, the king's arbitration of the polygamy and the guardianship, the inheritance left to the Quran; the death penalty on the books and unused since 1993; the press code of 2016 and the jailed journalists Raissouni and Radi pardoned 29 July 2024, Ali Lmrabet held two days in July 2026; the courts of the Hirak, Zefzafi's 20 years, and of the Gen Z, the 1,500 trials; the Constitutional Court of twelve |
| Local government | 12 regions with councils elected 8 September 2021 and presidents, the "advanced regionalization" of 2015 for the Sahara above all; the walis of the king; the 1,503 communes and the mayors, Casablanca's Nabila Rmili of the RNI; the next councils in 2027 |
| Defense | The Royal Armed Forces of about 200,000 with the conscription of a year restored in 2019 — the F-16s and the Abrams tanks of the Americans, the Chinese and Israeli drones, the Turkish Bayraktars, the frigates of the two seas; the largest arms importer of Africa in 2026 by SIPRI; the berm of the Sahara and the Guerguerat road; the ceasefire of 1991 dead since 2020; the ISIS-Sahel plot of ten arrested in seven cities in the summer of 2026 by the BCIJ, the counterterrorism agency of the "Moroccan model"; the peacekeepers of Congo and the Central African Republic; the major non-NATO ally |
| United Nations | Member since 12 November 1956; the Security Council seats of 1963–64, 1992–93 and 2012–13; the resolution 2797 of 31 October 2025; the COP22 of Marrakesh of 2016; the IMF and World Bank meetings of Marrakesh of October 2023, a month after the earthquake |
| Other memberships | The Arab League (1958); the Arab Maghreb Union of 1989, frozen; the African Union (2017), the ECOWAS application pending; the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation; the Non-Aligned Movement; the WTO (1995); the Francophonie; the Union for the Mediterranean; the EU's advanced status of 2008; the Abraham Accords |
Economy
| GDP (nominal) | About US$165 billion (2025, IMF) — the fifth economy of Africa |
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| GDP per capita | About US$4,500 (2025) |
| GDP per capita (PPP) | About US$11,000 (2025) |
| GDP growth | About 3.2% in 2024 in the drought and about 4.4% in 2025 with the rains and the cars, about 4% expected in 2026; inflation about 1–2% from 10% in 2023; unemployment 12.8%, the young at 35.8%, the graduates at 19%; the dirham at about 9.3 to the dollar |
| Economy by sector | Services about 55%, industry about 26%, agriculture about 12% — a third of the workers on the land, the harvest the swing of every year |
| Currency | Moroccan dirham (MAD) |
| Phosphates | OCP, the Office Chérifien des Phosphates of 1920 — the world's largest exporter of phosphate and its fertilizers, about 70% of the reserves of the planet under Khouribga, Benguerir, Youssoufia and Boucraa, the slurry pipeline of 187 km to the port of Jorf Lasfar, the largest fertilizer complex in the world, about US$10 billion of sales and a fifth of the world's phosphate trade; the green ammonia of the plans |
| Cars and the factories | The largest car maker of Africa — Renault at Tangier since 2012 and Stellantis at Kenitra since 2019, about 700,000 vehicles a year and a million planned, the cars the first export at about US$14 billion; the Boeing and Safran plants of the Casablanca aerospace park; the cables and the textiles for Europe; the Chinese battery plants of Tanger Tech and Kenitra of 2024–26; the Tanger Med free zones of 1,300 companies |
| Agriculture | The Green Morocco plan of 2008 and the Generation Green of 2020 — the citrus, the tomatoes and berries for Europe, the largest tomato exporter to the EU, the olives and the argan, the wheat that the drought halves; the sardines, the largest catch in the world, and the octopus; the cannabis of the Rif legalized for medicine and industry by the law of 2021, the largest producer of hashish by the UN's count still; the dams of the "water highways" from the Sebou to Rabat; the desalination of Agadir and Casablanca |
| Tourism | About 17.4 million visitors in 2024, the record, and the target of 26 million by 2030 — Marrakesh, Agadir, Fez, Chefchaouen and the desert; the French, Spanish, British and the diaspora; the World Cup of 2030 and the Cup of Nations of 2025 the showcases; the riads and the medinas; about 7% of GDP and 2.5 million jobs |
| Energy | Noor Ouarzazate, the concentrated solar complex of 580 MW of 2016–18, the largest of its kind in the world, and the wind farms of Tarfaya and Boujdour, renewables about 45% of the capacity toward 52% by 2030; the coal of Safi and Jorf Lasfar still half the power; the gas by the Maghreb-Europe pipeline reversed from Spain since 2022 after Algeria shut it; the green hydrogen of the "Morocco Offer" of 2024 on a million hectares of the south; the Nigeria–Morocco Atlantic gas pipeline of 5,600 km and US$26 billion; the Xlinks cable to Britain that London declined in 2025 |
| Trade and the ports | Exports about US$45 billion — cars, phosphates and fertilizers, aerospace, textiles, produce — to Spain, France, Italy, Brazil and India, the largest buyer of the fertilizers; the free trade agreements with the EU, the United States and Turkey; Tanger Med the pivot; the remittances of US$12 billion; the tourism receipts of US$12 billion |
| Public finances | Public debt about 70% of GDP; the deficit about 3.5%; the health insurance for all of the AMO extended in 2022 and the direct family aid of December 2023 to 4 million households, the social state of the king's program; the earthquake reconstruction fund; the stadiums of 2030 and the health and education money of the budget of 2026 after the protests; the Casablanca Finance City; the IMF's flexible credit line; the family holding Al Mada of the palace the largest private group |
| Income classification | Lower-middle income (World Bank) — the upper-middle line near |
Transport & infrastructure
| Main airports | Mohammed V International Airport at Casablanca, about 11 million passengers, the hub of Royal Air Maroc and the Africa flights; Marrakesh Menara, about 9 million, the tourists' door; Agadir; Tangier Ibn Battouta; Rabat-Salé; Fez-Saïss; the 30 million passengers of 2024 and the terminals rising for 2030 |
|---|---|
| Airline | Royal Air Maroc, of 1957, the flag carrier of about 60 aircraft to 100 cities and the fleet of 200 planned for 2037, the Boeing and Airbus orders of 2024–25; Air Arabia Maroc; Ryanair the largest foreign carrier; the flights of the diaspora |
| Main ports | Tanger Med on the strait, opened 2007 — the largest port of Africa and of the Mediterranean, about 10 million containers in 2024, the third busiest transshipment hub of the world by some counts, the car terminal of Renault; Casablanca; Jorf Lasfar of the phosphates; Agadir; Nador West Med of the Mediterranean, opening in 2026; Dakhla Atlantic under construction in the Sahara for 2029; the ferries of Tangier and Nador to Spain |
| Railways | About 2,300 km (1,430 mi) of standard gauge — the ONCF; Al Boraq, the first high-speed train of Africa, from Tangier to Casablanca at 320 km/h since 15 November 2018, 2 hours 10 minutes, the extension to Marrakesh of 430 km under construction for 2029 and the Alstom trains of 2025; the lines to Fez, Oujda and Safi; the trams of Casablanca and Rabat-Salé; the Marrakesh–Agadir line planned |
| Roads | About 57,000 km (35,000 mi), most paved; the motorways of about 1,800 km from Tangier to Agadir and Oujda, the Tizi n'Tichka pass of the Atlas at 2,260 m; the Casablanca ring; the road to Dakhla and Mauritania of the trucks; the grand taxis of the villages; the driving on the right |
| The strait | The ferries of Tangier Med to Algeciras and Tarifa in an hour, the summer of the two million of the diaspora; the tunnel under the Strait of Gibraltar, 40 km, studied since 1979 and revived by Spain and Morocco for the World Cup of 2030, the two ends 14 km apart at the narrowest |
History in dates
| c. 300,000 BC | Jebel Irhoud — the oldest Homo sapiens known |
|---|---|
| c. 800 BC | The Phoenicians at Lixus and Mogador |
| A.D. 40 | Mauretania Tingitana of Rome — Volubilis |
| 788 | Idris I — the first Moroccan state; Fez founded, 789 |
| 859 | Al-Qarawiyyin of Fez — the oldest university |
| 1062 | Marrakesh founded by the Almoravids |
| 1147 | The Almohads — the Koutoubia, the Hassan Tower |
| 1269 | The Marinids at Fez |
| 1415 | Portugal takes Ceuta, 21 August |
| 1578 | The Battle of the Three Kings, 4 August |
| 1666 | The Alaouites take Fez — the dynasty of today |
| 1777 | Morocco recognizes the United States — the first to do so |
| 1844 | Isly, 14 August — the French victory |
| 1912 | The French protectorate, 30 March; the Spanish, 27 November |
| 1921 | Anual, 22 July — Abd el-Krim's Rif Republic, to 1926 |
| 1944 | The Independence Manifesto, 11 January |
| 1953 | The sultan exiled, 20 August; returned, 16 November 1955 |
| 1956 | Independence, 2 March; from Spain, 7 April |
| 1957 | Mohammed V king, 14 August |
| 1960 | The Agadir earthquake, 29 February |
| 1961 | Hassan II, 26 February — the "years of lead" |
| 1963 | The Sand War with Algeria, October |
| 1971 | The Skhirat coup, 10 July; the plane, 16 August 1972 |
| 1975 | The Green March, 6 November; the Madrid accords, 14 November |
| 1976 | The Sahara war; the Cup of Nations |
| 1991 | The Sahara ceasefire, 6 September |
| 1999 | Mohammed VI, 23 July |
| 2003 | The Casablanca bombings, 16 May — 45 dead |
| 2004 | The family code; the Al Hoceima earthquake, 24 February |
| 2007 | Tanger Med; the autonomy plan, 11 April |
| 2011 | The 20 February movement; the Constitution, 1 July |
| 2016 | The Hirak of the Rif, 28 October; COP22 |
| 2017 | The African Union rejoined, 30 January |
| 2018 | Al Boraq, 15 November |
| 2020 | Guerguerat, 13 November; the U.S. recognition, 10 December; Israel, 22 December |
| 2021 | Algeria cuts ties, 24 August; the election, 8 September; Akhannouch, 7 October |
| 2022 | The World Cup semifinal, 14 December |
| 2023 | The Al Haouz earthquake, 8 September — 2,960 dead |
| 2024 | France backs the plan, 30 July; the census, September |
| 2025 | Britain backs the plan, 1 June; the Agadir deaths, August; Gen Z 212, 27 September; the under-20 title, 19 October; resolution 2797, 31 October; the march's fiftieth, 6 November |
| 2026 | The drought ends, 12 January; the final, 18 January; Chaouki leads the RNI, 7 February; the storms, February; the title awarded, 17 March; Mali switches, 10 April; the Ceuta rush, 30 July; GMT, 20 September; the election, 23 September |
Records & firsts
| The oldest Homo sapiens | Jebel Irhoud, 300,000 years |
|---|---|
| The oldest university | Al-Qarawiyyin, 859 |
| The first to recognize the United States | 1777 |
| Seventy percent of the world's phosphates | OCP |
| The largest port of Africa and the Mediterranean | Tanger Med |
| The first high-speed train of Africa | Al Boraq, 2018 |
| The largest concentrated solar complex | Noor Ouarzazate |
| The largest car maker of Africa | About 700,000 a year |
| The first African World Cup semifinalist | 14 December 2022 |
| The highest peak of North Africa | Toubkal, 4,167 m |
| The longest-reigning Arab dynasty | The Alaouites, since 1666 |
| The largest flag ever made | 60,000 m², Dakhla, 2010 |
| A cup won in the appeal room | The Cup of Nations, 17 March 2026 |
| Back to Greenwich time | 20 September 2026 |
Frequently asked questions
What is the official name of Morocco?
The Kingdom of Morocco — al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah in Arabic, Tageldit n Lmeghrib in Tamazight, Royaume du Maroc in French — the state that regained its independence from France on 2 March 1956 and from Spain on 7 April 1956 under Sultan Mohammed V, who became king in 1957; the Alaouite dynasty has reigned since the 1660s, the longest-ruling house of the Arab world, and its sovereign is the Commander of the Faithful. The name in Arabic is al-Maghrib, "the west," the land of the setting sun at the far end of the Islamic world; Morocco in the European languages comes from Marrakesh, the Almoravids' capital of 1062, by way of the Portuguese Marrocos.
What is the capital of Morocco?
Rabat — the "ribat," the fortress-monastery of the Almohads on the Atlantic at the mouth of the Bou Regreg, the capital since the French protectorate moved the administration there from Fez in 1912 and Mohammed V kept it at independence — about 580,000 people in the city and 2 million with Salé across the river, a World Heritage site of the Hassan Tower, the Kasbah of the Udayas and the Ville Nouvelle of Lyautey. Casablanca, the economic capital with 3.7 million in the city and 5 million around it, is the largest city of the Maghreb; Fez and Marrakesh the imperial cities of the medinas, Tangier the port of the strait, Agadir, Meknes and Oujda follow.
How big is Morocco, and how many people live there?
About 446,550 km² (172,414 sq mi) by the international count — a little larger than California — and 710,850 km² by the kingdom's own, which includes the Western Sahara it has held since 1975; the country stands at the northwest corner of Africa on the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, 14 km from Spain across the Strait of Gibraltar, with Algeria to the east behind a border closed since 1994. The census of September 2024 counted 36,828,330 people, about 37.5 million by 2026, growing under 1 percent a year on a birth rate that has fallen below replacement to 1.97, two-thirds of them in the cities and the plains of the Atlantic; another 5.5 million Moroccans live abroad, mostly in France, Spain and the rest of Europe.
What are the highest and lowest points of Morocco?
Jbel Toubkal, 4,167 m (13,671 ft), in the High Atlas 60 km south of Marrakesh, the highest mountain of North Africa and of the Arab world, snow-capped half the year above the Berber villages of the Mizane valley; and the Sebkha Tah, a salt flat 55 m below sea level in the Western Sahara near Tarfaya, or the Atlantic and Mediterranean shores of the country proper. Four ranges of the Atlas and the Rif cross the country from the Mediterranean to the Sahara; the Draa, 1,100 km, is the longest river and the Sebou the largest, and the Sahara beyond the Anti-Atlas holds the oases of the Tafilalt and the dunes of Merzouga.
What currency does Morocco use?
The Moroccan dirham (ISO code MAD, DH), of 100 centimes, issued by Bank Al-Maghrib since 1959, when it replaced the franc of the protectorate — pegged to a basket of the euro and the dollar within a widening band since 2018, at about 9.3 dirhams to the U.S. dollar and 10.5 to the euro. Clocks keep Greenwich Mean Time, UTC+0, all year, since the kingdom set them back an hour at 2 a.m. on 20 September 2026 and ended eight years of a permanent UTC+1 that it had suspended each Ramadan; Morocco drives on the right.
Who governs Morocco?
King Mohammed VI, the sovereign since 23 July 1999 on the death of his father Hassan II — the head of state, the Commander of the Faithful and the commander of the armed forces, who presides over the Council of Ministers, names the prime minister from the party that wins the election and holds the strategic ministries and the great decisions in his hands under the Constitution of 2011; and Prime Minister Aziz Akhannouch of the National Rally of Independents, the agribusiness billionaire in office since 7 October 2021 at the head of a coalition with the Authenticity and Modernity Party and Istiqlal that holds 270 of the 395 seats. The country votes for a new House of Representatives on 23 September 2026, two days after the date of this page, the first election since the Gen Z protests of the autumn of 2025 that demanded hospitals before stadiums; the turnout, the analysts say, is the number to watch.
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