Cuba continues to age at an accelerated pace: by the end of 2025, 26.7% of its population will be 60 years old or older, a proportion that represents an increase of one percentage point compared to 2024, when the indicator was 25.7%.
The latest official data shows that aging affects all provinces, although in some areas the situation is particularly pronounced.
The National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) announced this Tuesday the results for 2025, accompanied by a map that allows for the identification of differences in the proportion of elderly adults by province.
The official results, gathered in the report "The Aging of the Population. Cuba and Its Territories, 2025", provide a clearer picture of this demographic transformation.
According to the organization, Villa Clara is the most aged province in Cuba, with 30.2% of its residents aged 60 years or older. This means that approximately three out of ten residents of that territory belong to that age group.
Next is Havana, where the indicator reaches 29.1%, while Cienfuegos records 27.7%, and both Sancti Spíritus and Camagüey show 27.6% each.
Pinar del Río, with 27.1%, and Matanzas, with 26.9%, also exceed the national average.
The figures confirm that aging is not an isolated phenomenon in certain rural areas or the capital, but rather a demographic transformation that impacts the entire country.
At the opposite end appears Guantánamo, with 23.3% of older adults, the lowest proportion among Cuban provinces.
Following them are Santiago de Cuba and Artemisa, both at 24.2%, while Granma reaches 24.8% and Ciego de Ávila stands at 25%.
Although these territories show percentages lower than the national average, all have a significant proportion of residents aged 60 and over.
ONEI identified even greater differences when examining aging behavior at the municipal level.
Revolution Square, in Havana, reaches 38.2%, the highest figure in the country. In other words, nearly four out of ten inhabitants of that municipality are at least 60 years old.
The Havana municipality includes a large part of Vedado, one of the most well-known urban areas of the Cuban capital.
In contrast, Yateras, in the province of Guantánamo, has the lowest aging rate in the country, at 17.9%.
The difference between both municipalities is 20.3 percentage points, a significant gap that reflects the uneven territorial distribution of different age groups.
The new results reveal how much the landscape has changed in just a year.
In July 2025, ONEI had released the statistics for the end of 2024, with Villa Clara leading in aging at 29.1% and Havana recording 28.1%.
The comparison shows that Villa Clara increased by 1.1 percentage points and Havana by one percentage point in 2025.
Also in 2024, Plaza de la Revolución ranked as the municipality with the oldest population, at 36.8%. The new figure of 38.2% represents an increase of 1.4 percentage points in one year.
For its part, Yateras increased from 17.1% to 17.9%, although it remains the municipality with the lowest proportion of elderly adults.
The trend is driven by several factors that are acting simultaneously: the sustained decline in births, the increasing relative weight of older generations, and emigration, which particularly affects younger age groups and the working population.
Cuba is currently experiencing a significant demographic contraction.
In July, ONEI reported that the country had ended 2025 with 9,434,593 inhabitants, after losing 313,414 residents compared to the previous year.
Official statistics also reflected a negative net migration of 245,264 individuals in 2025, highlighting the impact of emigration on the population decline.
The decline in birth rates exacerbates this situation. In 2025, births reached historical lows, while deaths nearly doubled the number of newborns.
The combination of these factors is reducing the proportion of the young population and narrowing the base of workers that sustain economic activity, public services, and pension systems.
In August, the Cuban demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos warned about the consequences of the rapid population decline and mentioned scenarios in which Cuba could decrease to approximately 5.6 million inhabitants if the current trends continue.
The specialist also noted that the large generations born during the so-called Cuban baby boom are reaching retirement age, while the country is losing its economically active population.
Additionally, in July, an analysis of the situation of the elderly described the challenges of meeting basic needs with pensions that have lost purchasing power due to the rising cost of food, medication, and services.
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