Background: Older people make up a large part of the world's population and their numbers are expected to increase significantly by 2030. The objective of this study is to determine socio-economic, health and nutritional characteristics of institutionalized and non-institutionalized elders in the province of Marrakech.Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 368 participants in Marrakech province between March 2017 and June 2019 through a face-to-face interview. Of all participants, 180 elders are residing in public institutions and 188 at home. Face-to-face interviews provided information on socioeconomic and health characteristics. Results: Institutionalized elders were illiterate (80.0%), had low incomes (95.5%), and unmarried (73.3%).They reported less children (1.52±2.35) and no health insurance (98.9%). Institutional residents suffered from malnutrition (22.2%), hearing impairments (35.6%) and severe edentulism (43.3%). There was no significant difference between both groups on daily activities and depression. A multivariate analysis identified a model with three significant variables associated with non-institutionalized elders: health insurance (P=0.001; OR=107.49), number of children (P=0.001; OR=1.74) and nutritional status (p=0.001; OR=3853). The data were analyzed by using SPSS version 16.0. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05.Conclusions: This study shows that the institutionalization of the elderly is considerably induced by various factors such as nutritional problems, lack of health insurance and family structure. To mitigate the effects of this phenomenon, home care strategies and preventive actions should be carried out to delay the referral of the elderly to institutions and to keep them socially active