Moroccan Households Rely on Multiple Income Sources, Study Finds

In a note titled "Household Income Sources: Structure and Inequality", the High Commission for Planning (HCP) indicated that among the 20% of the poorest households, the average number is 3.2, while it is 2.9 among the 60% of intermediate households and 2.7 among the 20% of the richest households. Moreover, it is the extent of the diversification of their sources of income that determines the average number of sources of income per household.

Thus, in Morocco in general, around 96% of households have at least two sources of income, or 99.8% in rural areas and 94% in urban areas. They are 41.7% to have three sources of income, 29.6% to have two. This rate is 20.2% for those with four sources of income, according to the HCP in its study carried out using data from the 2019 national survey on sources of income. Furthermore, in rural areas, the rate of households with at least four sources of income is 47.1% compared to 14.2% in urban areas.

It should be noted that the structure by source of household income makes it possible to identify the rate of factors of production and redistribution policies in the division of income from the national economy. It also favors the prior determination of the participation of wages, the mixed income of non-agricultural self-employment and agricultural activities, transfers and others for the general benefit of households. It also allows to gauge the inequalities related to this distribution.