Younger Moroccans are growing less religious, study finds

Younger Moroccans are becoming less religious, according to researchers who analyzed Pew survey data comparing religiosity among people under 40 and those over 40 across countries.

The recent study, The Three Stages of Religious Decline Around the World, published in Nature, shows that Moroccans under 40 report being less religious than their elders.

Researchers measured religiosity through three aspects: participation, importance, and belonging. In terms of participation, younger Moroccans are about 15–20% less likely than older generations to take part in religious practices such as attending mosque or communal prayers.

For importance, religion remains very significant to younger Moroccans, though they see it as slightly less central to their lives compared to older generations.

For belonging, however, the gap is negligible, indicating that nearly all Moroccans, regardless of age, continue to identify with a religion (Islam), showing virtually no generational shift in religious affiliation.

The study highlights that while religiosity tends to decline across generations, the pace and form of decline vary between countries. To explain this, researchers applied the secular transition model, which proposes that societies undergo secularization in three stages: first, participation in rituals declines; second, the personal importance of religion decreases; and third, formal religious affiliation is shed.

Findings confirm that this model applies across Christian, Muslim, Hindu, and Buddhist contexts. Eastern post-Soviet countries deviate from the pattern, while traditionally Muslim countries, appear to be in the early stages of the transition.