Cuba to carry out National Fertility Survey

HAVANA, Cuba, Mar 14 (ACN) The National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI by its Spanish acronym) and its Center for Population and Development Studies (CEPDE by its Spanish acronym) will conduct on April 1 to 30 the National Fertility Survey (ENF by its Spanish acronym), which will include people between 15 and 54 years of age from all over the country.

Diego Enrique Gonzalez Galvan, director of CEPDE, announced today in Havana that the results of the survey will provide scientific evidence and information on the reproductive decision making of men and women in the midst of a demographic scenario characterized by a low birth rate which does not ensure generational replacement.

Gonzalez Galvan pointed out that the survey is a milestone as it is the first to be carried out in the country after the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and that it will be developed with mobile data collection devices.

He acknowledged that this field operation will constitute a training exercise for the Population and Housing Census, and highlighted the support received for its implementation from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

Alejandra Trossero, UNICEF representative to Cuba, expressed that the NFS will contribute to a better understanding of the fertility situation in the country and how these results are related to regional reports and the indicators of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Grisell Rodriguez, program officer of the UNFPA Office in the Caribbean island, noted that the survey will make it possible to have inputs to support the design and implementation of the policy to address population dynamics.

She also stressed that it will provide data to focus attention on vulnerable groups and address gaps such as fertility and adolescent pregnancy, early marriages and unsatisfied family planning needs.

In 1987, the first National Fertility Survey was conducted among women between 15 and 49 years of age, which was applied again in 2009 and included women and men between 15 and 54 years of age.