New York, 4 April 2017. During the 50th session of the UN Commission on Population and Development, the Director of Population at Cuba’s National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI), Juan Carlos Alfonso Fraga, proved today that Cuba is a demographically developed country with indicators that stand for its very advanced demographic transition.
Within this context, he highlighted that Cuba is an aged country where approximately 1 out of every 5 Cubans is of age, and for 2030 it would be so for 1 out of every 3. He explained that such change in age structures is a consequence of social policies and benefits of universal, free-of-charge and systematic scope, materialized by the Cuban Revolution in fields such as education, healthcare, sexual and reproductive health. These policies are also evident in the universal schemes of social security and assistance, and in an overall environment of citizen security favoring the population’s survival with greater quality of life.
“According to the latest Human Development Report, published last 21 March, Cuba qualifies as a High Human Development Country, precisely on account of its achievements in education and healthcare, which equals other indicators like those of Gender Development and Gender Inequality, where we occupy outstanding positions internationally.”, he noted.
While referring to the blockade imposed on Cuba, he condemned that our country cannot promote its public policies to its population’s benefit expeditiously and stated: “Only between April 2015 and March 2016, the economic damages caused by the blockade against Cuba amounted to no less than 4.680 billion dollars. Wouldn’t there be an improvement in the quality of our services, life and our future if, in this short term, those billions of dollars would have been devoted to the Cuban economy? We look up to the day when the blockade disappears, that big obstacle to our sustainable development. How much wouldn’t Cuba achieve by then?
Likewise, he reaffirmed Cuba´s commitment with the fulfillment of the measures to continue implementing the Cairo Programme of Action, linked today to the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. In this sense, he expressed special commitment with the Montevideo Consensus, our referent in Latin America and the Caribbean to achieve the objectives and goals adopted in El Cairo.
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations