Demographics of Cuba


The demographic characteristics of Cuba are known through census which have been conducted and analyzed by different bureaus since 1774. The National Office of Statistics of Cuba since 1953. The most recent census was conducted in September 2012. The population of Cuba at the 2012 census was 11.2 million. The population density is 100.7 inhabitants per square kilometer, and the overall life expectancy in Cuba is 78.0 years. The population has always increased from one census to the next, with the exception of the 2012 census, when the count decreased by 10,000. Since 1740, Cuba's birth rate has surpassed its death rate; the natural growth rate of the country is positive. Cuba is in the fourth stage of demographic transition. In terms of age structure, the population is dominated by the 15- to 64-year-old segment. The median age of the population is 39.5, and the gender ratio of the total population is 0.99 males per female.

Population

According to the 2002 census, Cuba's population was 11,177,743, whereas the 2012 census numbered the population at 11,167,325. The drop between the 2002 and 2012 censuses was the first drop in Cuba's population since Cuba's war of independence. This drop was due to low fertility and emigration, as during this time, 332,028 Cubans received legal permanent residence in the United States. In the last few years before the end of the wet feet, dry feet policy on January 12, 2017, the number of Cubans moving to the United States significantly outnumbered the natural increase during those years.

Population by region (2015)

Largest cities

See Also List of cities in Cuba
Nº, City, Population, Province

Structure of the population (2012)

Age groupMaleFemaleTotalPercent
0-14989 346933 2161 922 56217,22
15-643 891 0123 876 9947 768 00669,56
65+690 467786 2901 476 75713,22

Structure of the population :
Age GroupMaleFemaleTotal%
Total5 580 8105 610 79811 191 608100
0-4321 478303 526625 0045,58
5-9301 959284 488586 4475,24
10-14359 531338 675698 2066,24
15-19363 489340 163703 6526,29
20-24422 593395 300817 8937,31
25-29395 116372 190767 3056,86
30-34323 405309 400632 8055,65
35-39404 654400 360805 0147,19
40-44504 560508 9921 013 5519,06
45-49510 718528 4871 039 2049,29
50-54397 073414 802811 8757,25
55-59300 439320 991621 4305,55
60-64278 891296 070574 9615,14
65-69233 904255 751489 6544,38
70-74185 892202 686388 5783,47
75-79125 408143 251268 6592,40
80-8481 99798 823180 8191,62
85+69 70796 849166 5561,49

Racial groups

YearWhiteMulatto and MestizoBlack
200265.06%24.86%10.08%
201264.12%26.62%9.26%

Age groupCuba 100% White 64,12% Black 9,26% Mulatto/Mestizo 26,62%
Population11 167 3257 160 3991 034 0442 972 882
0131 419 91 432 5 368 34 619
0-4625 192 412 604 31 828 180 760
5-9594 099 372 304 38 481 183 314
10-14703 271 439 406 52 121 211 744
15-19704 126 434 944 57 638 211 544
20-24826 658 511 488 71 570 243 600
25-29755 729 463 004 69 282 223 443
30-34623 480 380 742 61 368 181 370
35-39838 631 520 668 82 640 235 323
40-441 015 022 635 473 103 827 275 722
45-491 041 213 662 297 111 934 266 982
50-54774 499 492 046 85 145 197 308
55-59624 013 401 361 68 511 154 141
60-64564 635 383 286 58 247 123 102
65-69480 917 335 144 46 826 98 947
70-74380 897 269 331 36 701 74 865
75-79264 923 188 653 25 867 50 403
80-84179 670 131 158 17 011 31 501
85+170 350 126 490 15 047 28 813

Age groupCuba White Black Mulatto/Mestizo
0-141 922 562 1 224 314 122 430 575 818
15-647 768 006 4 885 309 770 162 2 112 535
65+1 476 757 1 050 776 141 452 284 529

Ancestral origins

According to the previous censuses, the Chinese were counted as white.
The ancestry of Cubans comes from many sources:
During the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century, large waves of Spanish immigrants from Canary Islands, Catalonia, Andalusia, Galicia, and Asturias emigrated to Cuba. Between 1820 and 1898, a total of 508,455 people left Spain, and more than 750,000 Spanish immigrants left for Cuba between 1899 and 1930, with many returning to Spain. There are 139,851 Spanish citizens living in Cuba on January 1, 2018.
The Slave trade brought Africans to Cuba during its early history:
Between 1842 and 1873, 221,000 African slaves entered Cuba.
People of the Americas:
Other European people that have contributed include:
People from Asia:
Between 1842 and 1873, 124,800 Chinese arrived.
There are also a small number of Jews living in Cuba.

Genetics

An autosomal study from 2014 has found out the genetic average ancestry in Cuba to be 72% European, 20% African and 8% Native American with different proportions depending on the self-reported ancestry :
Self-reported ancestryEuropeanAfricanNative American
White86%6.7%7.8%
Mulatto/Mestizo63.8%25.5%10.7%
Black29%65.5%5.5%

A 1995 study done on the population of Pinar del Rio, found that 50% of the Mt-DNA lineages could be traced back to Europeans, 46% to Africans and 4% to Native Americans. This figure is consistent with both the historical background of the region, and the current demographics of it.
According to another study in 2008, the Native American contribution to present-day Cubans accounted for 33% of the maternal lineages, whereas Africa and Eurasia contributed 45% and 22% of the lineages, respectively. Haplogroup A2 is the main Native American haplogroup in Cuba, accounting for 67% of the Native American mtDNA gene pool. Regarding Y-chromosome haplogroups, 78.8% of the sequences found in Cubans are of West Eurasian origin, 19.7% of African origin and 1.5% of East Asian origin. Among the West Eurasian fraction, the vast majority of individuals belong to West European haplogroup R1b. The African lineages found in Cubans have a Western and Northern African origin. The "Berber" haplogroup E1b1b1b, is found at a frequency of 6.1%.
According to Fregel et al., the fact that autochthonous male North African E-M81 and female U6 lineages from the Canaries have been detected in Cuba and Iberoamerica, demonstrates that Canary Islanders with indigenous ancestors actively participated in the American colonization.

Y-DNA

mtDNA

Other demographics statistics

Demographic statistics according to the World Population Review in 2019.
Demographic statistics according to the CIA World Factbook, unless otherwise indicated.
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Language

is the official language of Cuba. Of all the regional variations of Spanish, Cuban Spanish is most similar to, and originates largely from, the dialect spoken in the Canary Islands. This is a consequence of Canarian migration, which in the 19th and early 20th century was heavy and continuous. There were also migrations of Galicians and Asturians as well, but they did not impact Cuban Spanish to the same degree.
Much of the typical Cuban replacements for standard Spanish vocabulary stems from Canarian lexicon. For example, ' differs from standard Spanish ' the former originated in the Canaries and is an onomatopoeia stemming from the sound of a Klaxon horn. An example of Canarian usage for a Spanish word is the verb . In standard Spanish the verb would be , while fajar exists as a non-reflexive verb related to the hemming of a skirt.
The second most spoken language of Cuba is Haitian Creole, used mainly by Haitian immigrants and its descendants going back since the late 18th century, of whom fled the Haitian Revolution.
Other languages of Cuba are Cuban Sign Language, and English is commonly studied as a foreign language.
There are also reports of Lucumi, "Lengua Conga" and Bozal Spanish. Historically, the Ciboney and Classic dialects of Taino and the unattested Guanahatabey were spoken.

Religion

Cuba has a multitude of faiths reflecting the island's diverse cultural elements. Catholicism, which was brought to the island by Spanish colonialists at the beginning of the 16th century, is the most prevalent professed faith. After the revolution, Cuba became an officially atheistic state and restricted religious practice. Since the Fourth Cuban Communist Party Congress in 1991, restrictions have been eased and, according to the National Catholic Observer, direct challenges by state institutions to the right to religion have all but disappeared, though the church still faces restrictions of written and electronic communication, and can only accept donations from state-approved funding sources. The Roman Catholic Church is made up of the Cuban Catholic Bishops' Conference, led by Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cardinal Archbishop of Havana. It has eleven dioceses, 56 orders of nuns and 24 orders of priests. In January 1998, Pope John Paul II paid a historic visit to the island, invited by the Cuban government and Catholic Church.
Afro-Cuban religions, a blend of native African religions and Roman Catholicism, are widely practiced in Cuba. This diversity derives from West and Central Africans who were transported to Cuba, and in effect reinvented their African religions. They did so by combining them with elements of the Catholic belief system, with a result very similar to Brazil. One of these Afro-Cuban religions is Santeria.
Protestantism, introduced from the United States in the 18th century, has seen a steady increase in popularity. 300,000 Cubans belong to the island's 54 Protestant denominations. Pentecostalism has grown rapidly in recent years, and the Assemblies of God alone claims a membership of over 100,000 people. The Episcopal Church of Cuba claims 10,000 adherents. Cuba has small communities of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and members of the Bahá'í Faith.

Demographic statistics from the CIA World Factbook

Age structure
Illicit migration is a continuing problem. Cubans attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas; Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US including direct flights to Miami and overland via the southwest US/Mexican border, and islands adjacent to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
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