Cuba updates figures on its effective population

 HAVANA, Cuba, Jul 19 (ACN) At the end of 2023 Cuba had an effective population of 10,055,968 inhabitants, 10.1 % less than in 2020, Juan Carlos Alfonso Fraga, deputy chief of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI by its Spanish acronym), informed today.

During a presentation made to deputies of the National Assembly of People's Power, he pointed out that the effective population is considered to be all those who, in a calendar year, were born in the country or in another but permanently reside in Cuba and accumulated 180 days or more of residence in the country during the last 365 days and have not died.

In this decrease, he added, 79.5% corresponds to those between 15 and 59 years of age and the largest decreases are proportionally registered in Havana, Cienfuegos and Mayabeque and the smallest in Granma, Guantanamo and Santiago de Cuba.

Regarding 2021-2023, he pointed out that 284,891 people were born in Cuba, while deaths in those three years reached 405,512, which shows a negative balance in the rate of population recovery, the ONEI deputy chief noted.

Alfonso Fraga indicated that the trend of contraction of the number of births continues and that in 2024 it should be below 80,000, the lowest figure since the triumph of the Revolution.
He added that in 2023, almost one fifth of the country's population (24.4%) was aged 60 years and over, which makes Villa Clara (with 26.2%), Havana (with 24.8%) and Sancti Spiritus (with 24.2%) the most aged territories in the country.

The capital municipality of Plaza de la Revolucion continues to have the highest aging rate, since 35% of its population is in the third age, Alfonso Fraga commented.

For every 1,000 children between the ages of zero and 14, there are 1,511 older adults who have or exceed six decades of life, which is why that value amounts to 1,902 and 1,728 in Villa Clara and Havana, respectively.

Given the demographic dynamics that will be registered in the first months of 2024 - contraction of the number of births and continuity of the movement of people abroad since the last months of 2023 - Cuba's population is currently less than 10 million inhabitants and should continue decreasing, he warned.