The regime has used historically controlled data on infant mortality as a propaganda showcase for its health system.
LIMA, Peru – The Prime Minister of the Cuban regime Manuel Marrero recognized this Thursday that the infant mortality rate on the Island will close 2025 at 9.7 per 1,000 live births, which represents an increase of 2.6 points compared to last year, when it was recorded at 7.1.
The leader’s intervention before the deputies of the National Assembly of People’s Power (ANPP) contrasts with the historically controlled data that the regime has used as a propaganda showcase for its health system.
Marrero admitted the “deterioration” of infant mortality while avoiding updating data on maternal mortality, a relevant and related indicator that already showed an alarming increase of 4.9% in 2024.
During the first half of 2025, the outlook was negative on the Island in relation to maternal mortality, which rose to 56.3 per 100,000 live births, compared to 37.4 in the same period of 2024. Guantánamo, Holguín and Santiago de Cuba appeared among the most affected territories in the first half of this year.
The prime minister also spoke about setbacks in other demographic indicatorsamong them the aging of the population and a drop in the number of nationals for the coming decades.
During the ANPP session, the projection of the Cuban population for the period 2025-2050 was carried out, maintaining the trend of low fertility and more people dying than being born.
Marrero confirmed that it is expected to close the current year with 9,600,000 inhabitants, and the population is projected to decrease to 7,700,000 in 2050. The proportion of older adults will go from 25.7% to 36.4%, and the working-age population will reduce from 5,900,000 to 4,100,000 people.
The setbacks in the so-called Maternal and Child Program, historically one of the pillars of the official narrative about the achievements of the Revolution, reveal a systemic collapse that can no longer be hidden with disguised figures or triumphalist speeches. The decrease in the number of births, combined with the increase in maternal and infant deaths, paints a gloomy picture for public health in Cuba.
