Cuban Population Won’t Reach 12 Million

HAVANA TIMES — Reaching a population of twelve million is an impossible goal for Cuba to achieve because of the “lack of demographic potential,” said Juan Carlos Alfonso, the director of the Center for Population and Development Studies, speaking on Thursday.

According to the Prensa Latina news agency, Alfonso (who is also the director of the recent Census of Population and Housing) said the main cause for the stagnation in population growth is the fact that Cuba has a human development index that is similar to industrialized countries because of the favorable outcomes of its health care and education systems.

Alfonso did not mention the large rate of emigration of Cubans of child bearing age as a factor in the aging population.

The principal national expert on the subject recalled that the island had 10 million people in 1984 and 11 million in 1996, though fertility began to contract on the island since 1978.

The data were given at a scientific conference on geriatrics and gerontology held in the central province of Cienfuegos.