Cubaland's Population is Shrinking
excerpts from an interesting article from inside Cuba, originally in Spanish:
HAVANA, Cuba - September, 2006 (www.cubanet.org)
The continued negative trend of Cuba's population growth has taken a dramatic step, according to the 2005 census results published by the National Statistics Office (ONE in Spanish). At the end of 2005, only a 2,545 person growth was reported. That is an annual growth rate of 0.2 per 1000 inhabitants.
The greatest factor for the low growth rate is the low birth rate (10.7 per 1,000 inhabitants). This birth rate is 66% lower than during the 1960's. This trend can be explained by lack of minimum housing conditions, low salaries, difficulty in obtaining proper nutrition and basic care for infants, and a continued emigration flow amongst young people...
Another significant statistic is deaths by suicide, with an index of 18.8 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants [from 1971 to 2004]...
first, that suicide rate. Cuba is the ONLY country in the Western Hemisphere to have a suicide rate greater than 13 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants (2002 figures), according to the World Health Organization. Second, the Cuban government knows it has an embarrassment on its hands, so it has been under-reporting or simply not reporting deaths by suicide either internally or to international agencies (people simply don't kill themselves at this rate in a worker's paradise, comrade). Bottom line is, you can be sure the real suicide rate is a lot higher than this.
at any rate, let's see if i get this straight. Cubans don't want to have babies because they can barely take care of themselves and know they won't be able to take care of babies; the younger people continue to leave the country whenever possible, and Cubans are killing themselves at a rate greater than any other country in the region (heck, the whole Western hemisphere).
don't Cubans love King Fidel? don't they want to hang around his tropical socialist paradise? aren't they happy with what the Revolution has given them for the past 47 years?
if the census figures provide an answer, that answer is a resounding "No."
HAVANA, Cuba - September, 2006 (www.cubanet.org)
The continued negative trend of Cuba's population growth has taken a dramatic step, according to the 2005 census results published by the National Statistics Office (ONE in Spanish). At the end of 2005, only a 2,545 person growth was reported. That is an annual growth rate of 0.2 per 1000 inhabitants.
The greatest factor for the low growth rate is the low birth rate (10.7 per 1,000 inhabitants). This birth rate is 66% lower than during the 1960's. This trend can be explained by lack of minimum housing conditions, low salaries, difficulty in obtaining proper nutrition and basic care for infants, and a continued emigration flow amongst young people...
Another significant statistic is deaths by suicide, with an index of 18.8 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants [from 1971 to 2004]...
first, that suicide rate. Cuba is the ONLY country in the Western Hemisphere to have a suicide rate greater than 13 suicides per 100,000 inhabitants (2002 figures), according to the World Health Organization. Second, the Cuban government knows it has an embarrassment on its hands, so it has been under-reporting or simply not reporting deaths by suicide either internally or to international agencies (people simply don't kill themselves at this rate in a worker's paradise, comrade). Bottom line is, you can be sure the real suicide rate is a lot higher than this.
at any rate, let's see if i get this straight. Cubans don't want to have babies because they can barely take care of themselves and know they won't be able to take care of babies; the younger people continue to leave the country whenever possible, and Cubans are killing themselves at a rate greater than any other country in the region (heck, the whole Western hemisphere).
don't Cubans love King Fidel? don't they want to hang around his tropical socialist paradise? aren't they happy with what the Revolution has given them for the past 47 years?
if the census figures provide an answer, that answer is a resounding "No."
posted by Yimboro | 3:55 PM
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