Paper short abstract:

Considering the low levels of pension and the healthcare coverage for many older Moroccan people, intergenerational relationships are quite essential to provide support to the elderly. But very often families have to face difficulties, in particular to provide them access to adapted health care.

Paper long abstract:

In Morocco, 16% of the over-60s receive a retirement pension. There are strong gender inequalities: only 3% of women in this age group are pension recipients, compared with 30% of men. Disparities between urban and rural areas are also very large. Concerning healthcare coverage, only 13% of over-60s are covered, with large disparities by gender (8% of older women versus 18% of older men) and by place of residence (22% in urban areas and 3% in rural areas). Families provide support to the elderly thanks to the polymorphism of intergenerational relationships and to an organization based on sharing caregiving and financial responsibilities. Such an organization is conceivable because family size is large on average. Nevertheless, families often face difficulties to provide adapted support to the elderly, especially when older parent become dependent. Considering expected demographic change, it's really important to develop public policy measures able to balance and support family bonds.

This paper is founded on the analysis of data at a national level and on the analysis of data collected through investigations led among Moroccan older people living in the city of Meknes.