MIAMI — Cuba is losing population at a pace even its own state media now openly acknowledges as a crisis, with 2025 marking the country’s lowest birth count in decades and a death toll nearly double that number — a demographic collapse unfolding alongside the same chronic blackouts and economic deterioration that have defined life on the island throughout 2026.
Cuba registered 68,051 births in 2025, the lowest figure in decades, against 136,214 deaths — meaning the island now records nearly two deaths for every child born. The resulting natural population decline for the year was 66,303 people.
According to figures published by the state newspaper Granma and drawn from research by the Center for Demographic Studies (CEDEM) at the University of Havana, Cuba began 2026 with an official population of 9,436,440 people, though independent Cuban outlets have cautioned that even this figure should be read with caution given known inconsistencies in official statistics and delays in publishing complete demographic data through the National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI).