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Rabat — A recent report from the High Commission for Planning (HCP) reflects Morocco’s 2023 entry into the category of countries with high human development, after reaching a Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.710. This marks a 55.7% rise since 1990 and places Morocco 120th among 191 countries.
Morocco has made remarkable strides in reducing poverty and improving human development over the past two decades. Yet, deep-rooted inequalities and persistent regional disparities continue to slow the country’s social progress.
The HCP report points to significant advances in the fight against extreme poverty, which fell to just 0.3% of the population in 2022, meeting the UN’s first Sustainable Development Goal. Absolute poverty also dropped sharply, from 15.3% in 2001 to 1.7% in 2019.
However, Morocco’s progress was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, rising inflation, and recurring droughts. Between 2019 and 2022, absolute poverty more than doubled to 3.9%. The rural-urban divide remains striking as rural poverty stood at 6.9% in 2022, compared with only 2.2% in cities.
Equally alarming, the number of people living in poverty jumped from 623,000 in 2019 to 1.42 million in 2022. Urban poverty in particular surged at an alarming rate of 72.5% per year.
Growing vulnerability in cities
Economic vulnerability, which means the risk of falling into poverty, has also shifted geographically. Traditionally concentrated in rural areas, it is now increasingly urban. In 2022, cities accounted for nearly half, standing at 47.2% of all vulnerable people, up from 38% in 2014.
According to the HCP, this reflects the fragility of Morocco’s urban middle class, which lacks sufficient safety nets against economic shocks. Overall, the number of vulnerable Moroccans rose from 2.6 million in 2019 to 4.75 million in 2022.
Inequality on the rise again
After years of gradual improvement, income inequality has widened once more, reaching levels last seen in the early 2000s. The Gini index rose from 38.5% in 2019 to 40.5% in 2022.
The report shows that recent crises hit poorer households much harder. The wealthiest 20% of families saw their living standards fall by only 1.7% annually between 2019 and 2022, while the poorest 20% experienced a severe 4.6% annual decline.
This trend has eroded previous gains toward inclusive growth: the wealthiest half of Moroccans increased their share of total consumption from 75.1% in 2019 to 76.1% in 2022.
Multidimensional poverty: clear progress, rural gaps persist
Morocco has also made headway in reducing multidimensional poverty, which factors in health, education, and living conditions. Rates dropped from 11.9% in 2014 to 6.8% in 2024.
Education improvements accounted for nearly half of this progress, followed by better living conditions (31.4%) and health (18.4%). Rural communities benefited strongly, with multidimensional poverty nearly halving from 23.6% to 13.1%.
Still, inequalities remain stark. In 2024, multidimensional poverty in rural areas was more than four times higher than in cities: 13.1% compared with just 3.0%.
