AREQUIPA, Peru – A recent report According to data from the state-run National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) in Cuba, more people have died on the island in recent years than have been born, a reality that, together with the migratory exodus, has contributed to the abrupt decline of the Cuban population.
Official figures indicate that some 117,739 Cubans died in 2023, while only 90,392 were born. The statistic is not an isolated event, since it represents a trend that has been evident in Cuba since 2021.
According to ONEI, 167,675 people died on the island in 2021 and only about 99,096 were born. A year later, in 2022, 120,098 Cubans lost their lives while another 95,403 were born.
In turn, the demographic panorama has been affected by the largest migration crisis in the history of Cuba, in which the figures also indicate a greater number of nationals leaving the island, compared to the reported births.
In the United States alone, the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) reported 321,704 arrivals of Cubans to that country in 2022, more than triple the number of newborns that same year on the Island.
The difference between Cuban emigrants and native-born Cubans increases significantly if other migratory destinations around the world are taken into account, such as Spain, Uruguay, Mexico, among others.
Last July, the Cuban government admitted that the migration crisis has considerably affected Cuban demographics, reaching a population of less than 10 million.
According to advertisement In the Cuban parliament, Juan Carlos Alfonso, first deputy head of ONEI, said the “calculation” took into account the unprecedented migration crisis of the last three years, as well as deaths.
This number represents a 10.1% drop compared to the number of residents in 2020 and is similar to what there was in Cuba in 1985, the official warned. The trend indicates that the population will continue to decline.
