General information about Morocco
According to allcitycodes, the official name is The Kingdom of Morocco.
Located in northwest Africa. The area is 446.550 thousand km2, the population is 30.65 million people. (2001). The official language is Arabic. The capital is the city of Rabat (1601 thousand people, including residents of the suburbs of Sal^, 2001). Public holiday – Throne Day July 30 (since 1999). The monetary unit is the dirham (equal to 100 centimes).
Member of the UN (since 1956), OIC, OIC Jerusalem Committee (since 1979), Organization of the European Islamic Conference, LAS.
Geography of Morocco
In the north it is washed by the waters of the Mediterranean Sea, in the west – by the Atlantic Ocean. The shores of the Mediterranean Sea are mostly mountainous, steep, bordered by beaches; many comfortable bays. The Atlantic coast is a low-lying plains (Abda, Gharb, Sousse). It is separated from Europe by the 14-kilometer Strait of Gibraltar. In the east and southeast it borders with Algeria, in the south with Western Sahara.
A mountainous country with a predominance of medium-high and high mountains, elevated plains and plateaus (meset). From the southwest to the northeast, the Atlas Mountains system runs: High (up to 4165 m, the highest point of the country is Mount Toubkal), Middle Atlas, Antiatlas. In the north, along the Mediterranean coast, are the Rif Mountains. In the northwest – the plains and plateaus of the Moroccan Meseta; in the northeast – the plateau of the Algerian-Moroccan Meseta (height 1-1.2 thousand meters).
To the south of Antiatlas is a rocky plateau, in the southeast and south turning into sandy and rocky plains of the Sahara desert.
There are few rivers with permanent flow. The largest (Muluya, Cebu, Tensift, Ummer-Rbiya) flow down from the Atlas Mountains into the sea and ocean. During the autumn and winter rains, they turn into flash floods, and in summer they become almost completely shallow. The rest of the rivers are dry. This is the so-called. uedy (the largest is Dra, in the south of the country). Dams were built on large rivers, which created large reservoirs. The lakes are mostly salty, and in the east there are salty drying lakes (sebkhs). On the Atlantic coast there are merges – swampy lagoons.
The soil cover is predominantly brown soils of dry forests and shrubs, turning into gray-brown soils of semi-desert regions in the south.
Vegetation cover is approx. 4 thousand species, characterized by a transition from forest and shrub vegetation to desert. The animal world is represented by Eurasian and African fauna.
The country ranks first in the world in terms of phosphorite reserves. Possible total reserves are estimated at 64 billion tons (70% of the world). Explored amounts to 10.6 billion tons (60% of the world). Other minerals: coal (reserves – 100-200 million tons); iron ore; concentrates: copper, tin, zinc; manganese ore; fluorites; barite; unrefined salt; clay; crude oil (1200 thousand tons). The volumes of natural gas produced are small, but Morocco has large reserves of bituminous, or combustible, shale (about 100 billion tons, which is 15% of world reserves). The development of shale is not yet underway, but there are already projects for their processing into combustible gas and fuel oil. Also considered promising are projects to extract oil from bituminous shale and use uranium (the total content of which in Moroccan phosphates is estimated at 5 million tons). Spring 2000 in Talsinta,
The climate in most of the territory is subtropical, in the north – Mediterranean. It is characterized by hot, dry summers (average monthly temperatures in July +24–28°C) and humid, mild (especially on the Atlantic coast) winters (January +10–12°C). In mountainous and mountainous areas, the climate is continental with temperatures below 0°. At an altitude of 1-2 thousand meters above sea level, snow lies in winter. The climate is dry in the south and southeast. Precipitation – 100-200 mm.
Population of Morocco
The average annual growth rate is 2.6% (2001).
Birth rate – 26.8%, mortality – 6.6% (2000). Average life expectancy (estimate) 69.43 years, incl. men 67.2, women 71.76. The ratio of men and women in the entire population is 0.99. More than half (54%) of children and adolescents do not attend school. Every 9 out of 10 women in rural areas cannot read and write.
70% of Moroccans are Arabs, approx. 30% are Berbers. Differences between these population groups are blurred due to their assimilation. The language is Arabic. The dominant religion is Sunni Islam. It is practiced by 99% of the Muslim population of the country. In addition, there are approx. 69 thousand Christians, mostly Catholics, and approx. 8 thousand Jews.
