Lifelong singlehood is rising sharply in Morocco, with more than one in ten women remaining unmarried by age 50, according to the High Commission for Planning’s latest social indicators.
The rate of permanent celibacy at 50 reached 12.4% among women and 9.7% among men in 2024.
Three decades earlier the figures were just 0.8% and 0.2%. In cities, 13.1% of women aged 50 have never married, compared with 11.1% in rural areas.
Marriage certificates fell 3.9% to 239,300 last year, Justice Ministry data show.
Average household size shrank to 3.9 people from 4.6 in 2014, while the number of households climbed to 9.27 million.
The shift coincides with fertility falling below replacement level, according to the latest census.
The total fertility rate dropped to 1.97 children per woman in 2024 from 2.22 a decade earlier, under the 2.1 threshold needed to sustain population size.
Urban women average 1.77 children and 2.37 for rural women.
A separate HCP survey found nearly two-thirds of women do not want more children, mainly citing economic pressures.
Fertility declines sharply with education and work and women with higher education average around one child.
The trends signal accelerating demographic change, smaller households and growing pressure on the labor force and social systems.
