Over the past two years, a striking new force has reshaped global political movements. Generation Z—once dismissed as apathetic, distracted, and politically disengaged—has emerged at the forefront of protest worldwide. In Nepal, young people mobilized against a social-media ban and the lavish lifestyles of public officials. In Peru, youth-led demonstrations erupted after corruption scandals and political paralysis eroded what remained of public trust.
Now, Morocco’s youth have become part of this global shift. Fifteen years after the Arab Spring, the kingdom once hailed as North Africa’s exception is confronting a new generation of discontent—one demanding dignity, accountability, and a government capable of delivering fundamental reforms rather than recycled promises.
Why Morocco’s Gen Z Is Taking to the Streets
On September 27, a youth-led movement, Gen Z 212, erupted across Morocco after eight women died while giving birth in a public hospital in the city of Agadir—a tragedy seen as the result of years of neglect in the healthcare system. Outrage that began online quickly spilled into the streets. For many young Moroccans, it was a breaking point. Their demands were precise: better healthcare and education, an end to corruption, and a halt to the billions spent on prestige projects like the 2030 FIFA World Cup and the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations—while citizens die in failing hospitals and struggle with rising costs and unemployment.
The anger is justified. The Agadir tragedy was not an isolated failure but a reflection of a healthcare system in deep crisis. Morocco has only 7.4 medical doctors per 10,000 people, which is significantly below the WHO’s recommended minimum of 15.3 and the rates in neighboring countries, such as Algeria’s 16.6 and Tunisia’s 13.5. Low pay and poor working conditions have driven a mass exodus of medical professionals: one in three Moroccan doctors now work abroad, and 70% of medical students plan to follow suit—draining the very workforce the system desperately needs. To meet basic standards, the country would require over 32,000 doctors and 65,000 nurses.
Hospital capacity is equally dire. Morocco has just one bed per 1,000 citizens—the lowest in North Africa and far below the global average, resulting in patients waiting hours, sometimes days, for basic care. Medicine costs further deepen the crisis. Pharmaceutical profit margins in Morocco reach 57%, the highest among comparable countries, including those of Turkey, Denmark, France, and Portugal. A single supplier controls a quarter of all drugs in the market, while lobbying groups have repeatedly blocked the introduction of affordable generics, keeping prices high and patients burdened.
The result is a system that leaves millions exposed. Little wonder, then, that more than 80% of Moroccans express dissatisfaction with a healthcare system ranked among the worst in the world.
In response to public anger, the government announced $15 billion in new spending on health and education in its 2026 budget. But more money cannot repair a system weighed down by centralization, corruption, bureaucracy, and weak accountability. Morocco’s challenge is not financial; it is institutional. What the country needs is clear rules, genuine competition, and open markets—not another wave of state-driven intervention.
An Economy Built for the Few, Not the Many
The healthcare crisis is only one symptom of a broader governance failure that also defines the economy. Young Moroccans face a system that has shut them out: youth unemployment nears 40%—one of the highest globally—and only 21.4% of women participate in the labor force—half the global average. Meanwhile, the cost of living has surged, eroding household incomes and pushing many into poverty. With work, housing, and any prospect of building a livelihood increasingly out of reach, more young Moroccans now see emigration as their only path to dignity and a better future.
At the core of Morocco’s economic struggle is a structural problem: crony capitalism. Success depends less on talent than on proximity to power. A small circle of connected conglomerates dominates key sectors—protected by regulation, protectionism, and preferential treatment—leaving little room for fair competition and trapping the economy in stagnation and exclusion. Entrepreneurs feel this most: only 5.6% of adults are starting or have recently started a business, compared to a MENA average of 10.8%, while bankruptcies are soaring, with 16,100 firms collapsing in 2024 and 17,400 expected in 2025. The result is an increasingly restrictive business environment that leaves young Moroccans with little room to build a future within their own country.
Instead of confronting these structural barriers, officials continue to place their hopes on grand, state-led showcase projects. They present ventures like the 2030 FIFA World Cup as engines of growth and employment, but history shows otherwise. From South Africa’s 2010 World Cup to Greece’s Olympics and Brazil’s mega-events, such spectacles have consistently left behind debt, white elephants, and public disappointment—not prosperity. Top-down spending may look impressive on television, but it rarely builds lasting wealth. Real growth comes from the bottom up: from open markets, competition, and individual enterprise.
That is why young Moroccans are demanding a different path. They want a fair chance—not handouts—to build, work, and realize their ambitions. That future depends not on new subsidies or state projects, but on economic freedom. Yet this freedom has eroded in recent years as state intervention and regulatory burdens have expanded. Restoring it will require real institutional reform: open markets, the rule of law, limited government, and equal rules for all.
Until opportunity depends on merit—not connections—and institutions serve citizens, not cronies, Morocco’s potential will remain unfulfilled.
Phptp by Afker Moiz
