Imzouren

Imzouren belongs to the province of Al Hoceima in the Tangier-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region.¹ In 2014 it was one of the five urban municipalities among the province’s 36 municipalities.² With 34,848 inhabitants in 2024 it is the largest municipality in the province after the town of Al Hoceima (50,225).³

In 2004 Imzouren had 28,927 inhabitants and in 2014 33,852, a growth of 1.58 per cent a year.⁴ By 2024 only about a thousand more people had been added, while the number of households rose from 7,440 to 8,677.⁵ Imzouren is thus one of the eight municipalities in the province that grew between 2014 and 2024; the province as a whole fell from 399,654 to 371,527 inhabitants, and its urban share rose to 37.4 per cent.⁶

Imzouren lies on the Ghis-Nekor plain, which occupies the lower reaches of the Ghis and Nekor rivers and is bounded by the Mediterranean to the north and the Mohammed Ben Abdelkrim Al Khattabi dam to the south. West of the plain, conglomerates, sandstones and silts of Plio-Villafranchian age crop out on the plateaus of the Oued Ghis and of Imzouren; almost the entire plain is covered by recent Quaternary silts. The alluvial layers of the aquifer are on average 240 metres thick and rest on schist.⁷

According to a 2018 study, the Ghis-Nekor aquifer covers about 100 square kilometres and at that time supplied most of the drinking water for Al Hoceima and the surrounding towns; it is also used for irrigation, especially on the right bank of the Nekor.⁸ In 2025 the Agence du bassin hydraulique du Loukkos gave its area as 120 square kilometres and its share of drinking water as about one third. A second study costing 2.15 million dirhams provides for an exploratory borehole up to 750 metres deep in the municipality of Imzouren; for a digital model of the aquifer, 530 water abstraction points are being recorded.⁹

The climate of the plain is Mediterranean and semi-arid; rain falls from October to May, while June to September are dry. At the station of the Mohammed Ben Abdelkrim Al Khattabi dam an average of 396.9 millimetres a year was measured, with only 196 millimetres in 2013/2014 and 844 millimetres in 2009/2010.¹⁰

At the 2014 census, 55.5 per cent of people in Imzouren said they spoke Darija and Amazigh in everyday life, 38.1 per cent Amazigh only and 4.9 per cent Darija only.¹¹ Across the province, 73.9 per cent used Darija and 53.6 per cent Tarifit in 2024.¹²

On 24 February 2004 an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 struck the Al Hoceima area. Early reports gave more than 571 dead and the worst damage in Aït Kamra, Tamassint, Imzouren and Tizi Ayash. The epicentre lay near that of the magnitude 6.0 earthquake of 26 May 1994; according to the U.S. Geological Survey this is the most seismically active area in Morocco.¹³

Together with Al Hoceima, Ajdir, Bni Bouayach and other municipalities, Imzouren forms the Nkor-Ghiss group of municipalities, which co-financed refuse collection vehicles in 2019.¹⁴ The regional road RR610 between Seghanghan and Imzouren is to be rehabilitated for 155 million dirhams.¹⁵ In August 2026 the third edition of the summer festival of culture and heritage took place on Al Massira Al Khadra square, with stalls for crafts, beekeeping and pottery and with Ghayta music; the programme also included a visit to the archaeological site of Torres Al Kalaa.¹⁶

The nearest station with WMO normals is Al Hoceima on the coast, 12 metres above sea level. There, mean daily maximum temperatures rise from 17.4 °C in January to 28.9 °C in August; of 335.4 millimetres of annual precipitation, an average of 1.7 millimetres falls in July and 45.8 millimetres in November (WMO climate normals 1991–2020).¹⁷