Juan Carlos Alfonso, Deputy Head of the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI), noted that the country’s effective population at the end of 2025 stood at 9,434,593 inhabitants, representing a decrease of 313,414 people compared to the previous year.

  According to Alfonso, this downward trend—observed since 2021—is primarily due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and the country’s complex situation, exacerbated by the economic, commercial, and financial blockade imposed by the United States.

  Meanwhile, Diego Enrique Gonzalez, Director of ONEI’s Center for Population and Development Studies, warned that the natural growth rate is -7.1 per 1,000 inhabitants, meaning the country is losing population even before accounting for migration.

  Regarding the latter indicator, the total net migration figure was high (245,264 people), making it the most significant factor influencing population decline last year.   Last year, the country recorded 68,064 births—the lowest figure in recent decades—while deaths totaled 136,214, representing nearly double the number of births. Another figure highlighting the country’s demographic complexity is the infant mortality rate, which stood at 9.9 per 1,000 live births; meanwhile, for the second consecutive year, the Total Fertility Rate was 1.29 children per woman—the lowest figure recorded in the historical series since 1958.   Gonzalez also noted that the population aging rate is 26.7 percent, a figure that continues to position Cuba as the country with the oldest population in Latin America and the Caribbean.

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