While acknowledging Morocco’s considerable efforts over the years to build a strong national social protection system and citing key statistics the government uses to defend its achievements, the Moroccan Observatory for Social Protection has flagged several shortcomings in the social protection policies implemented over the past four years.
“Lack of unemployment support”
The observatory’s evaluation and follow-up on various government initiatives over the past 4 years, since the social protection framework law was implemented, identified six key issues with the country’s social protection policies across different areas.
In terms of standards and adequacy, the observatory pointed out the “absence of minimum criteria in social protection policies,” noting that they “fail to ensure protection against unemployment risks.”
It emphasized that the framework law did not include provisions for providing regular financial support to those unable to enter the job market— a group estimated to number over 1.6 million unemployed people in the second quarter of 2024.
The report also highlighted that these policies “do not follow a gender-sensitive approach,” pointing out discrimination between women in the public and private sectors regarding maternity leave benefits and the absence of gender-disaggregated data on social protection.
“Ineffective targeting”
The observatory also highlighted a major issue with the targeting and coverage of social protection policies in Morocco, calling the targeting system “ineffective.”
It pointed out that using a self-reported income system “creates many inaccuracies due to households underreporting or inaccurately reporting their income.” It also mentioned “problems with filtering household data,” which in 2023 and 2024 led to large numbers of citizens being excluded from their rights and social services.
The observatory explained that this situation has reduced public support to “technical and bureaucratic measures,” limiting the number of people benefiting from social protection. It argued that targeting has become a way to cut down on the budget dedicated to various social programs.
The report also noted that the mandatory basic health insurance system for professionals, self-employed workers, and non-salaried individuals is not attractive, with only “1.74 million out of 3 million targeted” enrolled.
It also pointed out that “over 87% of registered professionals did not benefit from health coverage due to account closures for failure to pay required contributions.”
Funding and sustainability
Regarding funding, the observatory raised concerns about “the difficulty in securing enough financial resources and getting all relevant stakeholders fully committed to expanding social protection.”
It criticized the government for “revising the roles of the Compensation Fund and redirecting its allocations toward integrated social protection mechanisms and the Unified Social Register, particularly to cover health costs.”
According to the report, this approach could “protect some groups while impoverishing others.”
The report also warned of the potential impact of the “significant gaps” between national health service ambitions and available resources on the effectiveness of the social protection project, highlighting the “limited budget of the relevant ministry” and “poor management of human resources in the public health sector” as major challenges.
It also criticized social protection policies for “placing the burden on families.” It highlighted that, according to official figures, families bear the largest share of health costs—63.3%—with 50% covered directly by tax revenues, 22.4% from health contributions, and 1.2% from employers.
While acknowledging positive government statistics on the social protection program, the report argued they “haven’t improved the living conditions of many Moroccan families,” due to record-high inflation driving up the cost of living.
The same source also criticized the government’s reliance on international loans to finance the project, warning that this could lead to the gradual dismantling of the Compensation Fund, removing state subsidies for public goods and public services, and deepening social inequalities.
Achievements
Titled, “Social Protection Policies in Morocco 2021–2024”, the report also highlighted the government’s achievements in implementing social protection programs.
These include developing identification and targeting systems, such as the nationwide rollout of the National Population Register by the end of 2022 and the Unified Social Register by the end of 2023, enabling the launch of family allowance grants based on eligibility criteria from these registers.
The Moroccan Observatory reported that by the end of October 2024, over 11.4 million vulnerable people were enrolled in the “AMO-Tadamon” basic health insurance system. The number of self-employed workers benefiting from the system reached around 3.8 million, including 1.7 million primary insured members and 1.2 million dependents.
The report also stated that by the end of October, more than 4 million families were receiving direct social support, covering 5.4 million children and 1.2 million people over the age of 60.
On the funding of social protection policies, the observatory, citing government data, reminded that the government plans to allocate 40 billion MAD by 2026. This will be funded through state resources, tax revenues, reallocation of funds from previous support programs, and the reserve of the Social Cohesion Fund (for 2024 only), as well as gradual reforms to the Compensation Fund by 2026.
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