Morocco’s minister of solidarity and social inclusion, Naima Ben Yahya, denied on Tuesday that the government plans to offer direct financial aid to couples preparing to marry, saying the initiative aims instead to “strengthen shared family responsibility.”
Speaking before Parliament during the 2026 budget presentation, Ben Yahya said the program under development seeks to support young couples through training and guidance, not subsidies.
“Marriage is not something to be simplified into financial assistance,” she told lawmakers, stressing that the family remains “the basic unit of society” and a national priority in line with royal directives.
Her comments come amid heated debate over Morocco’s declining marriage rates and rising average age at marriage. According to the Haut-Commissariat au Plan, the proportion of unmarried adults has sharply increased over the past decade, with nearly 60 percent of women of marriageable age remaining single in 2024.
The number of registered marriages fell by 27 percent between 2010 and 2022, while divorce petitions rose.
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