Morocco Climbs to 121st in UN Human Development Index, Trails Palestine

Morocco has moved up two places but has been overtaken by Palestine, according to the 2019 HDI report from the UNDP. With a score of 0.676, Morocco has "medium human development".

The same report indicates that only 1% of the Moroccan population lives below the poverty line of less than $1.90 per day, while nearly 5% live below the country’s poverty line. "Beyond monetary poverty, the index estimates that 19% of Moroccans live in ’multidimensional poverty’," the same source notes.

The issue of social inequalities has also been addressed in the report. 70% of Moroccans are active in the labor market, while only 21% of women are. And the latter have reported that they devote more than five hours a day to unpaid household chores, seven times more than men.

Norway, Switzerland, Ireland, Germany and Hong Kong respectively top the ranking with a very high level of human development. In the Maghreb, Algeria (82nd globally) and Tunisia have "high human development", as do six other African countries ranked above Morocco. These are the Seychelles, Mauritius, Botswana, South Africa, Gabon and Egypt.