Moroccan diaspora

The Moroccan diaspora consists of emigrants from Morocco and their descendants. Of the estimated 4.5 million Moroccans living abroad, roughly two thirds live in Europe; the remainder are distributed throughout the Americas (including North America and Latin America), Australia, Africa (in particular West Africa), and the countries of the Arab World.

History

Europe has long been a destination for Moroccan migration, with Moroccans arriving in some countries at least as early as the twentieth century. The largest concentration of Moroccans outside Morocco is in France, which has reportedly over 1.9 million Moroccans, and the Netherlands and Belgium (about 0.7 million Moroccans). In the Netherlands, Moroccans are the third largest group of non-western immigrants after people from the former Dutch colony of Indonesia and the Turks. In Belgium, Moroccans now form even the largest group of non-western immigrants. At over 4% of Belgium's population, the Moroccan population in Belgium is the highest percentagewise in Europe.