Prime Minister: Demographic dynamics is a priority in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Dec 14 (ACN) In Cuba, attention to demographic dynamics is a priority for the Government in the face of a natural decrease in its population, said Manuel Marrero Cruz, Prime Minister and President of the Government Commission for Attention to Demographic Dynamics.

During the 10th Ordinary Session of the National Assembly of People's Power (ANPP), in its 9th Legislature, and in the presence of Army General Raúl Castro Ruz and Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Marrero Cruz gave an update on the policy for the attention to the core issue.

The also member of the Political Bureau pointed out that Cuba represents 0.0014 percent (%) of the world population, with a behavior similar to that of developed countries, but in the context of a developing economy and besieged by the economic, commercial and financial blockade of the United States.

The policy for the attention to demographic dynamics, approved in 2014 by the Council of Ministers and updated in April 2022, contemplates the stimulation of fertility to get as close as possible to the natural population replacement, a situation that presents a tendency to decrease in a sustained manner and the country has not achieved for more than 30 years the generational replacement rate, which is two children per woman.

This program also seeks to meet the needs of people aged 60 and over, and encourages their participation in economic, political and social tasks, since they are the only population group that is growing in the country, with almost 2.4 million Cubans in this age group.

Other issues to be pursued are to stimulate employment, address the causes that provoke internal and external migration, outline policies that facilitate the participation of Cubans living abroad in the processes of social and economic development, said the head of government.

Marrero Cruz insisted on the need for a change of mentality in the understanding, attention and control of the demographic situation of the country, based on the precepts of the Constitution of the Republic and sustained in equity and social justice.

He said that although demographic groups and observatories have been set up in all provinces and municipalities, the necessary comprehensiveness and transversality have not yet been achieved, and a successful insertion of demographic issues in the territorial development strategy has not been achieved.

He highlighted the decisive role of municipal and provincial governments to effectively guarantee attention to demographic dynamics, with a particular territorial and local approach, whose plans must be approved by municipal assemblies and provincial councils, the Prime Minister pointed out.

For the effective implementation of these projects, he added, it is important that demographic indicators are incorporated into development strategies from the territories, and academic institutions and observatories must maintain an active participation.

During his speech, Marrero Cruz said that from the local level, the following aspects are of interest: attention to safe motherhood, adolescent fertility and infertile couples, and the comprehensive response to the needs of the elderly and those related to housing for mothers, fathers or legal guardians of children up to 17 years of age.

To this is added the systematic follow-up and proposals to address mobility and internal and external migration, mainly of young people, and the permanent analysis of the situation of the availability of the labor force.

In Cuba, demographic dynamics is an issue that has been monitored since the 1970s and recently as part of the Economic and Social Policy Guidelines of the Party and the Revolution.