Editing Shilha language (section)

== Number of speakers ==
[[File:Percent of Tashlhit speakers in Morocco by census 2004.png|thumb|Percentage of Shilha speakers per region according to 2004 census<ref>{{Cite news |last=Maaroufi |first=Youssef |title=Recensement général de la population et de l'habitat 2004 |language=fr |work=Site institutionnel du Haut-Commissariat au Plan du Royaume du Maroc |url=https://www.hcp.ma/Recensement-general-de-la-population-et-de-l-habitat-2004_a633.html |access-date=2022-06-01}}</ref>]]
[[File:Communes of Tachelhit.png|thumb|Communes or municipalities where Tachelhit is majority in Morocco (year 2014)]]{{More citations needed section|date=June 2022}}

With 4.7 million speakers or 14% of Morocco's population, Tachelhit is the most widely spoken Amazigh language in the Kingdom, ahead of Tamazight and Tarifit. Its speakers represent more than half of the 8.8 million Amazighophones.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Gauthier |first=Christophe |title=Données du Recensement Général de la Population et de l'Habitat de 2014 - Niveau national (Version Ar et Fr) |url=https://www.hcp.ma/Donnees-du-Recensement-General-de-la-Population-et-de-l-Habitat-de-2014-Niveau-national-Version-Ar-et-Fr_a3259.html |access-date=2025-03-18 |website=Site institutionnel du Haut-Commissariat au Plan du Royaume du Maroc |language=fr}}</ref>

It is also the Amazigh language that has the greatest geographical extension in the country. Its speakers are present in 1512 of the 1538 municipalities in the kingdom. This distribution is notably the result of a large diaspora of small traders who have settled throughout the country, but also of workers in search of employment opportunities.<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |date=2019-02-25 |title=Y a-t-il un " vote tachelhit " ? – TAFRA |url=https://tafra.ma/ya-til-un-vote-tachelhit/ |access-date=2025-03-23 |language=fr-FR}}</ref>

Five Moroccan regions have a rate of Tachelhit speakers higher than the national average: Souss-Massa, Guelmim–Oued Noun, Marrakech–Safi and Drâa–Tafilalet and Dakhla–Oued Ed Dahab. They concentrate 79% of the speakers. However, only two of them have a majority of Tachelhito speakers: Souss–Massa with 66% of its population (1,765,417 speakers) and Guelmim–Oued Noun with 50% (218,650 speakers). This rate drops to 26% for Marrakech–Safi (1,185,846 speakers), 22% for Drâa–Tafilalet (359,936 speakers) and 18% in Dakhla–Oued Ed Dahab (25,198 speakers).<ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" />

Like the high concentration of Tachelhit-speaking speakers in Dakhla, Tachelhit is spoken significantly by many inhabitants, in Moroccan municipalities outside the area where the language historically originated. With 49% of its speakers living in cities, Tachelhit has become highly urbanized. Thus, 10% of Casablancais speak Tachelhit, i.e. more than 334,000 people. Casablanca is therefore the first Tachelhit city in Morocco, ahead of Agadir (225,000 speakers). Similarly, 9.2% of Rbatis speak Tachelhit, i.e. more than 52,000 people, or 4% of Tangiers and Oujdis. Finally, there are singular cases of very outlying municipalities such as the fishing village of Imlili, south of Dakhla (60% of speakers) or the rural municipality of Moulay Ahmed Cherif, 60&nbsp;km west of the city of Al Hoceima (54% speakers). These situations are reminiscent of the historical migrations that have followed one another over the long term and especially the massive rural exodus that began in the 20th century towards the economic metropolises.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":3" />

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! scope="col" | Rank
! scope="col" | Cities
! scope="col" | Population speaking Tachelhit 
! scope="col" | Percentage <br> of the city
|-
| 1
| [[Casablanca]]
| 334 364
| {{percentage bar|10}}
|-
| 2
| [[Agadir]]
| 225 695
| {{percentage bar|53.7}}
|-
| 3
| [[Marrakech]]
| 214 327
| {{percentage bar|16.2}}
|-
| 4
| [[Ait Melloul]]
| 113 410
| {{percentage bar|66.1}}
|-
| 5
| [[Salé|Sale]]
| 79 820
| {{percentage bar|8.2}}
|-
| 6
| [[Inezgane]]
| 66 558
| {{percentage bar|51.3}}
|-
| 7
| [[Tiznit]]
| 65 105
| {{percentage bar|87.9}}
|-
| 8
| [[Dcheira El Jihadia]]
| 61 590
| {{percentage bar|62.6}}
|-
| 9
| [[Rabat]]
| 52 690
| {{percentage bar|9.2}}
|-
| 10
| [[Ouarzazate]]
| 43 110
| {{percentage bar|62.1}}
|}

Although many speakers of Shilha, especially men, are bilingual in Moroccan Arabic, there are as yet no indications that the survival of Shilha as a living language will be seriously threatened in the immediate future. Because of the rapid growth of the Moroccan population over the past decades (from 12 million in 1961 to over 33 million in 2014), it is safe to say that Shilha is now spoken by more people than ever before in history.