Magharebia (Washington DC)
BY HASSAN BENMEHDI
Casablanca — A new survey finds that half of Moroccans are unhappy with their lives and recommends areas needing reform.
Morale among the Moroccan public was recently put under the microscope. Citizens’ feelings of wellbeing and life satisfaction were the focus of a recent major field study led by the High Commission for Planning (HCP).
The results of the survey, which were published October 1st, revealed that a third of Moroccans were “satisfied or very satisfied” with their lives and that just under a quarter were “fairly” satisfied, while 46% declared themselves to be “dissatisfied”.
Sociologist Kenza Attouzani told Magharebia that the results prove once again that Moroccans aspire to a better life, saying the report “shows quite simply that half of the population still lacks the conditions needed for an honourable life, most notably healthcare, transport, employment, sanitation, housing and education. These are key priorities which, when they are not met, make life irredeemably unbearable for human beings.”
Ahmed Lamine, a lawyer and human rights campaigner, said one only has to read the results to see the urgent need to guarantee Moroccans the right to life. “And I’m talking about life, not just survival,” he added.
The survey also found that half of Moroccans remain dissatisfied with housing. Where incomes were concerned, 64% of the population overall felt dissatisfied, with the figure rising to 74% among rural populations.
The report also looked at employment, revealing that just over half of the working population was not satisfied with their work, with more than 70% declaring their total dissatisfaction with healthcare and more than 55% dissatisfied with the education system.
Ahmed Lahlimi, the High Commissioner for Planning, explained that Moroccans have highlighted three areas of life, which are central to their wellbeing, namely material satisfaction, which includes housing and income, social satisfaction, which includes employment, and healthcare and education.
The survey covered a sample of 3,200 people aged 15 years and upwards, 2,080 of them living in urban areas. It was conducted from January 30th to February 20th this year.
Lahlimi said that at the end of the day, measuring wellbeing according to the level of satisfaction among the population was a scientific way of periodically assessing the effectiveness of public policy.
“If we have 50 of Moroccans who are dissatisfied with their lives, then that demonstrates the failure of a whole political system which is still incapable of guaranteeing citizens their minimum needs for a decent life,” commented Adel El Jalidi from the youth section of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP).
He added “Benkirane’s government will need to take a serious look at the findings of this survey”.
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