Maghreb past and present

Abstract

The Maghreb has experienced several waves of immigration and colonization, for example, by Greeks, Romans, Vandals, Arabs, Turks, Spanish, French, and Italians. After World War II, in the course of decolonization, nearly all parts of the Maghreb became successively independent, and Christians as well as Jews emigrated from the region. As a result, the Maghreb is today one of the most homogenous regions in the world with 97% of its domestic population being Sunni Muslims. Due to proactive recruitment of labor force by Western European countries in the twentieth century, however, the Maghreb has been and still is characterized by mass emigration - completely reversing migration pattern over history from immigration to emigration. Today, the Maghreb Diaspora may well encompass eight million people. Despite a negative migration balance and a spectacular decline of fertility from 6–7 to slightly over 2 children per woman during the last decades, Maghreb’s population has nearly quadrupled within the last 60 years. This is solely resulting from an excess of births over deaths and reflects the demographic transition from high to low (infant) mortality and an increase in life expectancy from 43 to 73 years within a period of only 30 years. As a result, the Maghreb has a youthful growing population with currently nearly 60 million people of working age, however, coupled with one of the lowest employment rate in the world - especially among women, young adults and well educated people. Political priority will therefore have to be given to job creation that reduces unemployment and absorbs first-time entrants into the labor market and an education system that focuses on skills required by the private sector rather than the public sector offering too few jobs.