More than forty percent of Moroccans living abroad send money to their families in the Kingdom, the Higher Planning Commission (HCP) said in a recent report on migration. Released Thursday, the survey revealed that 42.3% of Moroccans living abroad said that they transferred money to family members and other people in the Kingdom during the last 12 months that proceeded the study held between August 2018 and January 2019.
In details, the agency stressed that 49.4% of Moroccan men living abroad said that they sent money to their households in Morocco during the same period, while only 27.7% of women did the same. These numbers change depending on the age of the sample surveyed, HCP data revealed.
In fact, only 18.2% of Moroccans settled down abroad and aged between 15 and 29 years old, provide financial help for their families in their home country in said twelve months. Meanwhile, 63.2% of those aged 60 years old and over did the same during the same period that proceeded the publishing of the report.
Most of the sent by Moroccans living abroad to Morocco is for parents
Moroccans residing in new European migrant destinations are the ones who send the most money to their loved ones in Morocco with a percentage of 55.3% of the people suveyed. Meanwhile, 45.5% of Moroccans living in Arab countries transferred money to their families in the Kingdom. Only 32% and 27.1% of Moroccans living in Europe and North America did the same, respectively.
69.9% of the transfers made by Moroccans residing abroad are primarily sent to parents. More precisely, 38.1% of this money is for mothers while 31.8% of it is for fathers. 17.5% of the money is sent to wives and 9.3% of the sent amounts was for other family members.
80.3% of Moroccans living abroad who said that they made money transfers to Morocco reported that they did so more than once a year, while only 19.7% of made transfers only once a year.
The report included also data on Moroccans who decided to return to theri home country instead of staying abroad and sending money to their loved ones. In fact, data compiled by the HCP shows that 8 out of 10 Moroccan migrants who returned to the Kingdom settled down in urban areas. The survey indicates that the total number of these migrants in Morocco since the year 2000 amounts to 187,566 individuals, adding that 81.2% of them live in cities.
More than half of these Moroccan migrants settled down in three regions, namely Casablanca-Settat regions (21.4%), Rabat-Salé-Kénitra (15.7%) and Béni-Mellal-Khénifra (14.5%).
As for the regions of Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima, the Oriental and Marrakech-Safi, each host around 10% of Moroccan migrants returning home.