HCP Report: 62,000 Moroccan Children Faced Dangerous Work Conditions in 2024
Rabat – Child labor in Morocco continues to affect thousands of young lives, especially in rural areas, despite a gradual decrease over recent years.
A new report from the High Commission for Planning (HCP), based on the 2024 National Employment Survey, estimates that 101,000 children between the ages of 7 and 17 are involved in economic activities.
The figure marks a drop of just over 8% from 2023 and a significant decrease of nearly 60% since 2017, but the reality behind the numbers remains sobering.
These children represent 1.3% of the total population in their age group. The contrast between city and countryside is sharp: only 0.5% of urban children fall into this category, compared to 2.5% in rural areas.
Behind these figures are children, mostly boys, whose daily lives revolve around work rather than school or play.
Nearly 85% of all working children are male, and the vast majority, almost 90%, are aged between 15 and 17. More than three-quarters of them live in the countryside, where family farms and small-scale labor often replace formal education.
Education rarely plays a lasting role in their lives. Over 87% of these children have dropped out of school altogether. A small fraction still attends, and some never enrolled to begin with.
In rural areas, most children work in agriculture, forestry, or fishing, sectors that dominate the local economy. In cities, the story shifts to services and light industry, where children find jobs in workshops, repair shops, or small businesses.
The type of work and the role children take on vary by setting. In the countryside, many help their families without pay. In cities, more children earn a wage or enter informal apprenticeships. But the nature of their work often puts them at serious risk.
According to the report, more than 60,000 children face hazardous conditions daily. Industrial zones pose some of the highest dangers, followed closely by construction sites and service-based roles.
Even in agriculture, where work appears less mechanical, over half of the children face harmful exposure to tools, chemicals, or physically demanding tasks.
The burden of child labor weighs on approximately 73,000 Moroccan households, most of them in rural areas. Families with more children are more likely to send at least one of them to work, often out of financial necessity.
The educational background of a household's head also plays a defining role. In homes where parents have never received formal education, child labor appears far more frequently. The trend nearly disappears in families led by someone with higher education.
The profession of the household parents influences the outcome as well. Children are more often pulled into work when the family relies on farming, trade, or manual labor. In homes where the parents are unemployed, the pressure to contribute financially falls even harder on the children. By contrast, the report finds that children of professionals and executives are seldom drawn into labor.
While the data suggests that national efforts to reduce child labor are yielding results, the issue remains deeply embedded in Morocco's rural and socioeconomically vulnerable communities.
These children live outside the scope of childhood, caught in a cycle shaped by poverty, limited access to education, and fragile local economies. The decline in numbers offers hope, but the reality behind the statistics urges continued and more focused action. Tags: Child Laborhcp reportMoroccan ChildrenMorocco
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