Moroccan Community in UK: A Hidden Diaspora with Deep Roots

Even though it is a bit difficult to make estimates on the number of Moroccans living in the United Kingdom, this community has existed for several generations and plays a full role in all spheres of public life. The difficulty in putting a figure on the number of Moroccans living in the United Kingdom lies in the fact that the data available from the British National Statistics Office (ONS) combines ethnic origin and race.

Indeed, according to the newspaper Les échos, it appears that Moroccan migration to the United Kingdom has been structured through agreements between the two countries. The other thing is that the majority of those who crossed the Moroccan borders for the United Kingdom in the 1960s came to work there. They are also independent women, free from any social status, who left in search of a better life, in order to support their families who remained in Morocco. Mostly farmers, they are from the regions of Berkane and Meknes.

But from the 1970s onwards, what was a temporary migration became a long-term migration. For the most part unskilled, they came to the United Kingdom with their families to stay there permanently. It was not until the 1980s that young professionals, mostly entrepreneurs from Casablanca and other major cities, arrived. It was from 1990 that highly skilled Moroccan professionals arrived and are currently working in the finance sector in London.

According to Myriam Cherti, the latest available census is from 2011 and had estimated the number of people born in Morocco and living in the United Kingdom at 21,246. In 2001, the number tripled to 7,904 people born in Morocco. However, other official sources estimate that the number of Moroccans living in the United Kingdom is estimated at around 40,000 regularly registered with the Moroccan consulate in 2011. And the number of Moroccans in this country is only increasing. They are generally found in London where they are close to 69%. But increasingly, they are also in Crawley, Edinburgh, St Albans, Slough and Trowbridge, in Burnley, Peterborough, Brighton, Manchester and Liverpool.