2024 census: where Moroccans live

Each column is a region, standing on its capital, as tall as its legal population. Ten years earlier the country had 33,848,242 inhabitants: it gained 2,980,088, or 0.85% a year, against 1.25% between 2004 and 2014. The population is still growing, but ever more slowly.

Casablanca-Settat alone has 7,688,967 inhabitants, one Moroccan in five. With Rabat-Sale-Kenitra, Marrakesh-Safi, Fez-Meknes and Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, five regions out of twelve hold 71.2% of the population. At the other end, Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab has 219,965.

The columns move from 2014 to 2024. The South grows fastest: Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab by 4.4% a year, Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra by 2.06%. The Atlantic axis follows, from Tangier to Agadir. The Oriental loses people (−0.09% a year); Beni Mellal-Khenifra and Draa-Tafilalet stall. Five regions account for 86.2% of the increase.

Night draws the inhabited country: a string of lights along the Atlantic, from Kenitra to El Jadida, and the large inland cities. Casablanca has 3.236 million inhabitants, Tangier 1.275 million, Fez 1.183 million, Marrakesh 1.015 million. Seven large cities hold 37.8% of the urban population.

Seen closer, the population huddles on a coastal strip a few dozen kilometres wide. This map is not the census: it is WorldPop's 2024 estimate, which spreads inhabitants over 100-metre squares using buildings seen by satellite. The redder, the more people live there.

In 2024, 62.8% of inhabitants live in urban areas, against 51.4% in 1994. Towns gained 2,677,669 people in ten years, the countryside 302,419. The columns show the urban share: 92.4% in Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra, 73.3% in Casablanca-Settat, but 46% in Marrakesh-Safi and 36.7% in Draa-Tafilalet.