Morocco

B

Political Divisions

Morocco is divided into 16 economic regions. Of these 13 are in Morocco, 2 are in Moroccan-administered Western Sahara, and 1 (Guelmin-Smara) straddles Western Sahara and Morocco. There are also an undetermined number of provinces.

C

Principal Cities

The capital of Morocco is Rabat, with a population of 1,622,860 (2004). Other major urban centres, with their populations, are Casablanca, 2,933,684 (2004), the country’s largest city and main seaport; Marrakesh, 823,200 (2007 estimate), and Fès, 946,815 (2004), both important trade centres; and Tangier, 703,614 (2007 estimate), a seaport on a bay of the Strait of Gibraltar.

D

Religion

Islam is the established state religion of Morocco. Almost the entire population is Sunni Muslim. The monarch is the supreme Muslim authority in the country. About 1 per cent of the population is Christian, and less than 0.1 per cent is Jewish.

E

Language

Standard Arabic is the official language, although it is not a mother tongue as it is used only in official domains, including education and business. Moroccan Spoken Arabic is the most widely used language, with at least 18.8 million mother-tongue speakers alone. Other forms of Arabic (Hasanya and Judaeo-Moroccan) are also heard. Three Berber languages are spoken: Tachelhit (3 million), Central Atlas Tamazight (3 million), and Tarifit (1.5 million). However, Berber languages, once dominant throughout Morocco, have declined in importance. French and Spanish are spoken as second languages by some Moroccans.

F

Education

In 1963 schooling became compulsory in Morocco for children between the ages of 7 and 13, but significantly fewer girls than boys attend classes, and only around 45 per cent of secondary-school-age Moroccans actually attend secondary school. Arabic is the main language of instruction, and French is also used in secondary schools. In 2005 around 53 per cent of the population was literate. In 2000, about 3.84 million pupils attended some 5,806 primary schools, and 1.47 million students were enrolled in secondary schools.

University education is provided at the Ibn Zohr University (1989) at Agadir; Hassan II University Aïn Chock (1975) at Casablanca; University Chouaïb Doukkali (1989) at El Jadida; al-Quaraouiyine University (859) and Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah University (1974) at Fès; al-Akhawayn University (1995) at Ifrane; Ibn Tofail University (1989) at Kenitra; Cadi Ayyad University (1978), at Marrakesh; Moulay Ismail University (1981) at Meknès; Hassan II University (1992) at Mohammedia; Mohammed I University (1978) at Oujda; Mohammed V Agdal University (1957) and Mohammed V Souissi University (1992) at Rabat; Hassan I University at Settat; and Abdelmalek Essaâdi University at Tétouan (1989). Rabat also has colleges of fine arts, public administration, agriculture, and economics, and the School of Native Arts and Crafts (1921) is in Tétouan. Some 266,000 students were enrolled in higher education in 1994-1995. In 2002–2003, 6.6 per cent of the country’s gross national product (GNP) was spent on education.