Today I’m going to tell you a story. The story of young Mohammed. It is also the story of a somewhat lost generation and of a Moroccan family which has lost the familiar contours of yesteryear.
Originally from Tafraout, Asni, Beni Drar, Itzer or another forgotten and useless village in Morocco… Mohamed, and like so many other young people of his generation, made the decision to leave the rural for the promise of a better life in the bustling metropolis of Casablanca. His suitcase, weighed down with belongings but heavy with aspirations, rolls alongside him and marks each step towards an uncertain future.
According to the social indicators of Morocco, 2024 edition, from the High Commission for Planning (HCP), the population of Morocco increased to 37.02 million in 2023, with an urbanization rate which climbed to 64.8%. Mohammed is thus one figure among many others driven by the same necessity. Villages like his are emptying and losing their young people to the cities, in search of employment and education opportunities that the land of their ancestors can no longer offer due to increasingly disastrous climatic conditions, but also because of the failure of certain policies.
For example, despite the high ambitions of the Green Morocco Plan (PMV) then the “Green Generation 2020-2030” plan, which places humans at the heart of its concerns by aiming in particular to revitalize rural areas, the results seem to struggle to be achieved. shape. One of the main objectives of the plan was to energize rural youth and contribute to the emergence of an agricultural middle class, but the rural exodus continues to accelerate.
So, faced with this situation, Mohammed had always believed that pursuing higher education was his ticket to a better life. However, the reality turned out to be more complex. Despite the increase in graduates, with 15.1% of workers having higher education in 2022, compared to 11.8% in 2015, the job market does not seem ready to welcome them. The unemployment rate among these young graduates remains desperately high, with a percentage that exceeds 20%, while the general unemployment average for the country is 15%. This situation became more palpable every day for Mohammed, who felt a growing gap between his academic efforts and real job prospects.
The more he studied, the more it seemed his chances of finding a decent job evaporated. Thus, even in Casablanca, Mohammed will still find himself confronted with a new reality. A huge city, a maze of possibilities but also of obstacles. Fierce competition for jobs, and a constantly increasing cost of living. A situation which pushes Mohammed, even if he suffers from excruciating loneliness in this new city and he carries in his heart a great love for Rania, his former classmate, not to think about marriage. An additional economic burden, which he cannot yet cope with at the age of 26.
Indeed, the average age at first marriage has also increased; in urban areas, this age has increased to 31.9 years for men according to the HCP. Then, even when he gets married, the chances of having the family he has always dreamed of are rare. In his village, the demographic structure has transformed in a palpable way. Families that once had four or five children are no more. The total fertility rate in Morocco has decreased, from 2.21 children per woman in 2014 to only 2.05 in 2023.
And when Mohammed manages to find a job to make all these dreams come true, the disparity in employment will still impact him. In 2022, men represented 77.4% of workers, while women only accounted for 22.6%, according to the HCP. Mohammed saw his mother and sisters fight a daily battle for recognition and fairness. Their path, however, remains even further than his.
This is the bitter reality depicted in the latest HCP report. An educated but marginalized Moroccan youth and a traditional family structure that is eroding, leaving little room for hope for a more prosperous future.
