Rabat is the capital city of Morocco and the country's seventh largest city with an urban population of approximately 580,000 and a metropolitan population of over 1.2 million. It is also the capital city of the Rabat-Salé-Kénitra administrative region. Rabat is located on the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the river Bou Regreg, opposite Salé, the city's main commuter town. The history of Rabat is closely connected to that of Salé, the site of which was first occupied by the Roman settlement of Sala . Rabat was founded in the 12th century by the Almohad ruler Abd al-Mu'min as a military town. The city steadily grew but went into an extended period of decline following the collapse of the Almohads. In the 17th century Rabat became a haven for Barbary pirates. The French established a protectorate over Morocco in 1912 and made Rabat its administrative center. Rabat, Temara, and Salé form a conurbation of over 1.8 million people. Silt-related problems have diminished Rabat's role as a port; however, Rabat, and Salé still maintain important textile, food processing and construction industries. In addition, tourism and the presence of all foreign embassies in Morocco serve to make Rabat one of the most important cities in the country. The Moroccan capital was ranked at second place by CNN in its «Top Travel Destinations of 2013».

It is one of four Imperial cities of Morocco, and the medina of Rabat is listed as a World Heritage Site.
 

• For a period of the 17th century, Rabat was run by pirates under the Republic of Bou Regreg which lasted untill 1818.
• Rabat’s Tour Hassan was intended to have the largest minaret and the largest mosque in the world, but in 1199 the construction stopped
• Rabat received its name from a ribat (similar to a monastery or citadel) that was guarded by Islamic holy warriors known as murabits
• Rabat has only been the capital for a little over 100 years
• Following World War II, the United States established a military presence in Rabat at the former French air base
• Rabat belongs to the sub-humid bioclimatic zone with an average annual precipitation of 560 mm (22 in)
   

In Morocco, the 75 second-level administrative subdivisions are 13 prefectures and 62 provinces. They are subdivisions of the 12 regions of Morocco.[Each prefecture or province is subdivided into arrondissements (only in prefectures of some metropolitan areas), municipalities (communes, sing. commune) or urban municipalities (communes urbaines, sing. commune urbaine) in other urban areas, and districts (cercles, sing. cercle) in rural areas. The districts are subdivided into rural municipalities (communes rurales, sing. commune rural). One prefecture (Casablanca) is also subdivided into préfectures d'arrondissements (sing. préfecture d'arrondissements), similar to districts (cercles) except they are grouping a few arrondissements instead of rural municipalities.
 

The economy of Morocco is considered a relatively liberal economy governed by the law of supply and demand. Since 1993, Morocco has followed a policy of privatization of certain economic sectors which used to be in the hands of the government.Morocco has become a major player in African economic affairs, and is the 5th largest African economy by GDP . The World Economic Forum placed Morocco as the 1st most competitive economy in North Africa, in its African Competitiveness Report 2014-2015.

The services sector accounts for just over half of GDP; industry — made up of mining, construction and manufacturing — is an additional quarter. The sectors that recorded the highest growth are the tourism, telecoms, and textile sectors. Morocco, however, still depends to an inordinate degree on agriculture, which accounts for around 14% of GDP but employs 40–45% of the Moroccan population. With a semi-arid climate, it is difficult to assure good rainfall and Morocco's GDP varies depending on the weather. Fiscal prudence has allowed for consolidation, with both the budget deficit and debt falling as a percentage of GDP.

The economic system of the country is characterized by a large opening towards the outside world. From 2018, the country's currency, the dirham, is fully convertible for current account transactions; reforms of the financial sector have been implemented; and state enterprises are being privatized.

The major resources of the Moroccan economy are agriculture, phosphate minerals, and tourism. Sales of fish and seafood are important as well. Industry and mining contribute about one-third of the annual GDP. Morocco is the world's third-largest producer of phosphates , and the price fluctuations of phosphates on the international market greatly influence Morocco's economy. Tourism and workers' remittances have played a critical role since independence. The production of textiles and clothing is part of a growing manufacturing sector that accounted for approximately 34% of total exports in 2002, employing 40% of the industrial workforce. The government wishes to increase 3 exports from $1.27 billion in 2001 to $3.29 billion in 2010.

About 80% of jobs are informal and the income gaps are very high. In 2018, Morocco ranked 121st out of 189 countries in the world on the Human Development Index , behind Algeria and Tunisia . It is the most unequal country in North Africa according to the NGO Oxfam.

Morocco is a fairly stable economy with continuous growth over the past half-a-century. Current GDP per capita grew 47% in the Sixties reaching a peak growth of 274% in the Seventies. However, this proved unsustainable and growth scaled back sharply to just 8.2% in the Eighties and 8.9% in the Nineties.

Real GDP growth is expected to average 5.5% in the 2009–13 period, seen the prospects in the tourism and the non-agricultural industry, as demand growth in the Eurozone — Morocco's key export market and source of tourists is projected to be more subdued. Growth will be well below the 8–10% levels that are widely regarded as necessary to have a major impact on poverty and unemployment.

In June 2019, Morocco signed two agreements to obtain a loan worth $237 million from the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development. The loan was taken to fund two investment projects.

Rabat's main airport is Rabat–Salé Airport. Rabat is served by two principal railway stations run by the national rail service, the ONCF. Rabat-Ville is the main inter-city station, from which trains run south to Casablanca, Marrakech and El Jadida, north to Tanger, or east to Meknes, Fes, Taza and Oujda. ONCF operates the Le Bouregreg urban rail for Rabat-Salé agglomeration.

The Rabat-Salé tramway is a tram system which was put into service on May 23, 2011 in the Moroccan cities of Rabat and Salé. The network has two lines for a total length of 19 km (12 miles) and 31 stops. It is operated by Veolia Transdev with Alstom Citadis trams. After some years of neglect as investment was directed at the tramway, the existing operator, STAREO, was displaced in 2019. A contract was awarded to Alsa-City Bus, a joint venture between Moroccan company City Bus and Spanish company Alsa s.a, a subsidiary of the UK's National Express Group. The new operator took over in July 2019 with a commitment to three hundred and fifty new buses. These will comprise 102 Mercedes-Benz and 248 Scania-Higer vehicles. The contract covers a 15-year period, renewable for seven years, and promises approximately 10 billion dinars investment into the bus transport system in the region.