Marriage grants and child-linked debt relief enter Morocco’s 2026 election debate

Moroccan political parties are being urged to offer marriage grants, forgive state-backed loans as couples have children and double maternity leave to six months, placing the cost of forming and sustaining families into the debate over their programs for the 2026 legislative elections.

The proposals from the Azzahrae Forum for Moroccan Women come as Morocco confronts two trends that existing family policy has struggled to reverse: fertility has fallen below the population-replacement level, while women’s participation in the labour market remains among the lowest in the region.

Morocco’s fertility rate dropped to 1.97 children per woman in 2024, below the replacement threshold of 2.1, according to the High Commission for Planning. Women’s labour-force participation stood at 19% in 2025, compared with 68.5% for men.

The forum’s memorandum asks parties to respond by treating marriage, parenthood and care work as areas for direct public investment rather than relying principally on general social assistance.

Its central proposal is a national fund offering young people non-repayable marriage grants and interest-free loans repayable over as many as four years. Couples would have 25% of the loan cancelled after a first child, 50% after a second and the entire balance forgiven after a third.

The document does not estimate the cost of the fund, identify a financing source or specify the size of the proposed grants and loans. It also does not explain whether support would be universal or subject to income and age limits.

Morocco currently has no national benefit specifically for marriage. Its direct social assistance system instead targets vulnerable households, providing monthly child allowances and one-off birth payments of 2,000 dirhams for a first birth and 1,000 dirhams for a second.

The forum’s proposal would go further by linking public debt relief directly to the number of children a couple has, turning social support into an explicitly pro-birth policy.

It also wants newly married couples to receive reserved places in Morocco’s state housing programme, help with down payments and near-zero-interest mortgages when both spouses are younger than 35. A government guarantee would temporarily cover the risk of one spouse losing work.

The existing housing programme offers first-time buyers 100,000 dirhams for homes costing no more than 300,000 dirhams and 70,000 dirhams for properties priced between 300,000 and 700,000 dirhams. Eligibility is not based on marriage, and more than 75,000 people had received support by late 2025.

Giving newlyweds a quota would therefore change not only the level of assistance but the way the state prioritises applicants.

On employment, the forum proposed extending paid maternity leave from 14 weeks to six months, with the option of a further period at half salary followed by unpaid leave. It did not specify whether employers, social insurance funds or the state would absorb the additional cost.

Morocco’s current 14-week entitlement meets the minimum set by the International Labour Organization’s maternity protection standard, although the ILO recommends at least 18 weeks. A six-month entitlement would move Morocco substantially beyond that benchmark.

The memorandum also calls for workplace nurseries in the public administration, reproductive and maternal healthcare at little or no cost, and routine screening for mental health problems during pregnancy and after childbirth.

For women working outside the formal economy, it proposes a maternity fund financed jointly by the state and private sector. Families caring for children with disabilities would receive regular payments based on the severity of the disability and the household’s financial position.

The forum also wants the law to recognise an “accompanying mother” or family caregiver as a protected status carrying social coverage, training, psychological support and flexible working arrangements.

Morocco’s direct assistance programme already provides additional payments for children with severe disabilities. The memorandum seeks to shift part of the policy focus from the child alone to the unpaid relative, usually the mother, providing daily care.

Whether parties adopt the proposals will depend partly on their cost. The memorandum identifies the benefits it wants created but leaves unresolved who would finance longer leave, marriage grants, subsidised loans and expanded caregiver protection.