Cuba ended 2025 with 8,116 more deaths than the previous year
ONEI recorded 68,064 births and 136,214 deaths. Natural population decline combined with emigration, leaving the country with 313,414 fewer residents at year's end.
Cuba's 2025 demographic report from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) records 136,214 deaths. The total is 8,116 higher than in 2024, when 128,098 deaths occurred. The increase coincided with a period of economic crisis and deteriorating health services in a country where aging, fewer births and emigration shape population trends, although that coincidence does not establish causation.
Havana had the highest provincial figure, with 29,646 deaths. Santiago de Cuba and Holguín followed, with 12,431 and 12,175 respectively. At the lower end were Mayabeque, with 4,624; Cienfuegos, with 4,801; and Ciego de Ávila, with 4,970 deaths during the year examined by ONEI. The capital thus led the provincial count.
At the municipal level, ONEI assigns the highest total to Santiago de Cuba, with 6,677 deaths. The lowest belongs to Ciénaga de Zapata in Matanzas, with 55. These absolute totals also reflect population size: a higher number of deaths does not by itself mean residents face a greater mortality risk than those in a less populated part of the country during the annual comparison.
Within the past decade, the 2025 result is among the highest. The peak remains 2021: the statistical agency's series records 167,675 deaths that year during the COVID-19 pandemic. The most recent total remained below that exceptional mortality level during Cuba's health emergency, although it increased from the immediately preceding year, according to the official report.
In the same report, ONEI placed 2025 births at 68,064, approximately half the number of deaths. The difference produced a negative natural balance of 68,150 people. Emigration, another component of demographic contraction, added to that loss. Including both processes, the country's population fell by 313,414 during the year, beyond the balance between births and deaths.
The total fertility rate remained at 1.29 children per woman, unchanged from the previous year and the lowest level observed since 1958. Another indicator, the gross reproduction rate, stood at 0.62 daughters per woman. At the end of 2025, ONEI estimated an effective population of 9,434,593. Of those residents, 7,044,773 lived in cities and other urban settlements, while 2,389,820 lived in rural areas. Most residents therefore lived in urban areas.