section_path: Demographics/Languages
section_name: Languages
paragraph_text: Languages
  
  Morocco's official languages are Arabic and Berber. The country's distinctive group of Moroccan Arabic dialects is referred to as Darija. Approximately 92.7% of the whole population can speak Arabic. Berber languages are spoken by 24.8% of the population in three dialects (Tarifit spoken by 3.2%, Tashelhit spoken by 14.2% and Central Atlas Tamazight spoken by 7.4%). According to the 2024 census, 99.2%, or almost the entire literate population of Morocco, could read and write in Arabic, whereas 1.5% of the population could read and write in Berber. The census also reported that 80.6% of Moroccans consider Arabic to be their native language, while 18.9% regard any of the various Berber languages as their mother tongue. After Morocco declared independence in 1956, French and Arabic became the main languages of administration and education.
  
  French is widely used in governmental institutions, media, mid-size and large companies, international commerce with French-speaking countries and often in international diplomacy. French is taught as an obligatory language in all schools. According to the 2004 census, 2.19 million Moroccans spoke a foreign language other than French. English, while far behind French in terms of number of speakers, is the first foreign language of choice, since French is obligatory, among educated youth and professionals. In 2010, there were 10,366,000 French-speakers in Morocco, or about 32% of the population.
  
  According to Ethnologue, as of 2016, there are 1,536,590 individuals (or approximately 4.5% of the population) in Morocco who speak Spanish. Spanish is mostly spoken in northern Morocco and the former Spanish Sahara because Spain had previously occupied those areas. Meanwhile, a 2018 study by the Instituto Cervantes found 1.7 million Moroccans who were at least proficient in Spanish, placing Morocco as the country with the most Spanish speakers outside the Hispanophone world (unless the United States is also excluded from Spanish-speaking countries). A significant portion of northern Morocco receives Spanish media, television signal and radio airwaves, which reportedly facilitate competence in the language in the region.