Talk:Administrative divisions of Morocco
About administrative divisions of Morocco
Before the change
On 24 October 2024, Morocco's administrative divisions table looked like this:
| Country (admin_level=2) | admin_level=* | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||
 Morocco(See: [[1]]) |
N/A | Regions (Wilayah) (جهات المغرب)(ولاية) | Provinces (الأقاليم) Prefectures (العمالات) |
(Districts) Cercles (الدائرة) Pashalik (باشوية) Préfectures d'Arrondissements (عمالات المقاطعات) |
Caïdats (القيادة) Arrondissements (المقاطعات) |
Urban Municipalities (الجماعات الحضرية) Rural Communes (الجماعات القرويةا) |
N/A | quartiers | |
Why it did not make sense
I noticed that Urban Communes and Rural Communes were level 8, while Préfectures d'Arrondissements were level 6 and Arrondissements were level 7. After making extensive research, I came to the conclusion that this was not logical at all. Here's why:
- Morocco is composed of 12 regions.
- Regions are composed of prefectures and provinces.
- For rural areas, Prefectures and Provinces are first subdivided into Cercles, which are subdivided into Caïdats, which are subdivided into Communes Rurales.
- For urban areas, these same Prefectures and Provinces are directly divided into Communes Urbaines, which are at the same level as Communes Rurales. They're simply not part of any Cercles or Caïdats.
- The Commune de Casablanca is the only Commune Urbaine composed of Préfectures d’Arrondissements, which are subdivided into arrondissements. 5 other urban communes are directly divided into arrondissements.
- The only 6 urban communes which are composed of arrondissements are Casablanca, Rabat, Salé, Tanger, Marrakech, and Fès.
Here’s the thing: Urban Communes are made of Arrondissements. So arrondissements cannot logically have a higher admin level than communes, if they make up these communes. Same for préfectures d'arrondissements.
For example, the website of the commune de Tanger, which says “La Commune de Tanger est actuellement composée de 4 arrondissements : Tanger Al-Madina, Béni Makada, Souani et M’gougha.” The website of the Commune de Rabat where you can find the list of its 5 arrondissements (Agdal Riyad, El Youssoufia, Hassan, Souissi, Yacoub El Mansour). The website of the commune de Salé where you can find its 5 arrondissements (Bab Lamrissa, Bettana, Hssaine, Layayda, Tabriquet).
The logical order
So we should logically have this admin level ranking:
2: Morocco
4: Regions
5: Prefectures and Provinces
6: Cercles
7: Caïdats
8: Urban Communes (Municipalities) and Rural Communes
9: Préfectures d’Arrondissements (in Casablanca only)
10: Arrondissements (in the 6 big cities mentionned earlier only)
11: Quartiers
I went ahead and updated the table. I split the Urban and Rural Communes as they have the same admin level but are neither part nor parents of the same divisions.
| Country (admin_level=2) | admin_level=* | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
| Morocco
|
N/A | Regions (Wilayah) (ولاية) (جهات المغرب) | Prefectures (العمالات) Provinces (الأقاليم) |
N/A | N/A | Urban Communes (Municipalities) (البلديات) (الجماعات الحضرية) | Préfectures d'Arrondissements (عمالات المقاطعات) (only in Casablanca) | Arrondissements (المقاطعات) (only in Casablanca, Rabat, Tanger, Marrakech, Fès and Salé) | Quartiers (الأحياء) |
| Cercles (الدائرة) | Caïdats (القيادة) | Rural Communes (الجماعات القروية) | N/A | N/A | |||||
The Pachaliks issue
The only administrative division I still cannot situate is the Pachaliks. They designate exactly the same areas as the Communes Urbaines (Municipalités), but I could not find anything concrete about their admin level. Are they level 8, just like the communes? Are they level 6, just like the Cerlces, as they are not part of any cercle and complete the Prefecture/province's area? For now, on OSM, they appear as level 6 (Example: Pachalik de Tiznit
Pachalik de Tiznit, Pachalik de Rabat Pachalik de Rabat).
At first, I thought these were just some old administrative divisions. But after making some research, I found out they actually still exist as of October 2024. I found this article from June 2024 reporting the creation of new pachaliks, cercles and caïdats. This similar article reported the same subject. This article from 2021 also reported on pachaliks.
Where do these divisions come from?
Administrative divisions are set by the government through “Décrets” (decrees in English), published in what we call "Bulletins Officiels" (BO). These BO can be found in pdf format through this link.
In BO n°5684, from October 2008, in decree number 2-08-520, the government re-divided the préfectures, provinces, cercles, caïdats and communes. Go to page 42 on this link and you will find a table with all of these divisions, as it was the case in 2008.
But behold, there have been many updates since 2008. especially to the rural areas. These updates are also published in newer decrees where they “modify and update” the previous ones. For example, see page 30 of BO n°5940, from May 2011, in which some rural divisions, previously fixed in decree 2-08-520, have been modified. So what we can do is find all BO with decrees modifying the administrative divisions, and try to update the table. These are extremely valuable in our research.
The most complete and recent list I could find is the one in BO n°6374, from July 2015, even though it is in Arabic. This is the one I currently use to fill the table. I will then look for the updates made after this date.
Watch out for errors
During my research, I discovered that Wikipedia is full of errors (what a surprise...). Be careful when you research for info about Morocco, as it is unfortulately not easy to come up with reliable sources. Always look for official documents such as the bulletins officiels and government documents and reports.
I made this page with the objective to try to help make the country's data more accessible in the future. Feel free to help!
--Ilias (talk) 23:49, 29 October 2024 (UTC)
Progress & issues
This topic aims to record the page's progress and issues.
Completed - No issues
Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma
- Préfecture de Tanger-Assilah
- Province de Fahs-Anjra
- Province de Chefchaouen
- Province d'Al Hoceima
Oriental (100% completed)
- Préfecture d'Oujda-Angad
- Province de Berkane
- Province de Driouch
- Province de Figuig
- Province de Guercif
- Province de Jerada
- Province de Nador
- Province de Taourirt
Rabat-Salé-Kénitra
- Préfecture de Rabat
- Province de Skhirate-Témara
Casablanca-Settat
- Préfecture de Casablanca
- Province d'El Jadida
- Province de Berrechid
Souss-Massa
- Préfecture d'Inezgane-Aït Melloul
Guelmim-Oued Noun
- Province de Guelmim
- Province d'Assa-Zag
- Province de Tan-Tan
Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab
- Province d'Oued Ed-Dahab
- Province d'Aousserd
Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra
- Province de Laâyoune
- Province de Boujdour
- Province de Tarfaya
- Province d'Es-Semara
Completed - Issues
Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceïma
- Préfecture de M'diq-Fnideq: The Cercle has no name. In the BO, the cercle column is just blank. But in the 2024 census, it's just called "Cercle". So which one is it?
Fès-Meknès
- Préfecture de Fès: Commune d'Oulad Tayeb was originally a rural commune. In BO 7317, it seemed to have become a rural commune. But in the 2024 population census, it was back at its original position. An error of the HCP or was it reverted back to a rural commune?
Rabat-Salé-Kénitra
- Préfecture de Salé: Commune d'Ameur was originally a rural commune. In BO 6809, it seemed to have become a rural commune. But in the 2024 population census, it was back at its original position. An error of the HCP or was it reverted back to a rural commune? Moreover, the Cercle of the prefecture was originally called Salé-Banlieue. But in the same BO, this cercle didn't exist (or had no name?) and in the 2024 census it was just called "Cercle". So what should it be called?
Casablanca-Settat
- Préfecture de Mohammedia: Communes de Bni Yakhlef and Chellalate - Both were originally rural communes, but in BO 6809, both communes seemed to have become urban communes, which is what's reflected on this page. But in the 2024 population census, they were back at their original positions. An error of the HCP or were they reverted back to rural communes?
- Province de Nouaceur: Communes de Oulad Azzouz and Oulad Saleh - Originally in BO 6374, they were rural communes part of their respective caïdats, which were part of Cercle de Bouskoura. But in BO 6485, both communes seemed to have become urban communes, which is what's reflected on this page. But in the 2024 population census, they were back at their original positions. An error of the HCP or were they reverted back to rural communes?
- Province de Médiouna: Communes de Sidi Hajjaj Oued Hassar and Al Majjatia Oulad Taleb - Originally in BO 6374, they were rural communes part respectively of Caïdats de Tit Mellil and Mediouna, which were part of Cercle de Tit Mellil. But in BO 7147, both communes seemed to have become urban communes, which is what's reflected on this page. But in the 2024 population census, they were back at their original positions. An error of the HCP or were they reverted back to rural communes?
- Province de Benslimane: Everything is fine except Commune d'Ain Tizgha. Originally in BO 6374, it was a rural commune part of Caïdat de Ziaida, which is part of Cercle de Benslimane. But in BO 7147, it was changed from Cercle de Benslimane to Cercle de Bouznika, and added to Caïdat d'Ain Tizgha (missing on OSM), which is what is reflected on this page. But in the 2024 population census, Ain Tizgha was back at its original position in Cercle de Benslimane. An error of the HCP or was it reverted back to Cercle de Benslimane?
Marrakech-Safi
- Préfecture de Marrakech: Everything is fine except Commune de Tassoultante. Originally in BO 6374, it was a rural commune part of Caïdat de Tassoultante which was part of Cercle de Saada. But in BO 6485, Tassoultante seemed to have become an urban commune, just like Marrakech and Méchouar-Kasba, which is what's reflected on this page. But in the 2024 population census, Tassoultant was back at its original position. An error of the HCP or was it reverted back to a rural commune?