Morocco's 2026 budget will allocate 140 billion dirhams ($15 billion) to health and education, up 16% from last year, the royal palace said in a statement on Sunday. Improving health and education services was a key demand by youth protesters who demonstrated across Morocco in recent weeks.

Car horns, chants, and waving flags filled the streets across Morocco as the U20 national team triumphed in the World Cup final

A leaderless collective called Gen Z 212 — named after Morocco’s dialing code — is the engine behind the protests. Members debate strategy on Discord, a chat app popular with gamers and teens. The core group has about 180,000 members, but spinoffs have also sprouted, organizing demonstrations in towns independently.

Morocco’s Gen Z-led protests have drawn inspiration from similar movements in nations like Nepal. After eight women died giving birth in a public hospital in Agadir, a coastal city 296 miles (477 kilometers) from the capital Rabat, they set off a wave of fury that then spread nationwide.

Morocco’s government promised major improvements to healthcare, education and youth participation in politics on Sunday, in a direct response to a wave of Gen Z–driven protests sparked by public

Morocco is reportedly set to bring back one of African football’s biggest nights – the CAF Awards 2025 – and it will be the fourth year.

As Morocco considers scrapping its youth quota system in elected bodies, the move has reignited debate over whether the mechanism served as a genuine path for youth empowerment or merely perpetuated political patronage.