Demographics of Cuba
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cuba is a multiracial society with a population of mainly Spanish ancestry.
According to the govt. sources, Cuba's population by December 31, 2006 was 11,239,536 compared to 11,243,000 in 2005. Total number of births was 111,084 in 2006 (BR of 9.88) compared to 120,716 (10.74) in 2005.
Total | Men | Women | % Of Total | |
---|---|---|---|---|
White | 7,271,926 | 3,618,349 | 3,653,577 | 65.06% |
Black | 1,126,894 | 593,876 | 533,018 | 10.08% |
Mulatto/Mestizo | 2,778,923 | 1,385,008 | 1,393,915 | 24.86%[1] |
Contents[hide] |
[edit] Religion
Cuba has a multitude of faiths reflecting the island’s diverse cultural elements. Catholicism, which was brought to the island by Spanish colonialists at the beginning of the 16th century, is the most prevalent professed faith. After the revolution, Cuba became an officially atheistic state and restricted religious practice. Since the Fourth Cuban Communist Party Congress in 1991, restrictions have been eased and, according to the National Catholic Observer, direct challenges by state institutions to the right to religion have all but disappeared,[2] though the church still faces restrictions of written and electronic communication, and can only accept donations from state-approved funding sources.[2] The Roman Catholic Church is made up of the Cuban Catholic Bishops' Conference (COCC), led by Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino, Cardinal Archbishop of Havana.[citation needed] It has eleven dioceses, 56 orders of nuns and 24 orders of priests. In January 1998, Pope John Paul II paid a historic visit to the island, invited by the Cuban government and Catholic Church.
Afro-Cuban religions, a blend of native African religions and Roman Catholicism, are widely practiced in Cuba. This diversity derives from West and Central Africans who were transported to Cuba, and in effect reinvented their African religions. They did so by combining them with elements of the Catholic belief system, with a result very similar to Brazil
Protestantism, introduced from the United States in the 18th century, has seen a steady increase in popularity. 300,000 Cubans belong to the island’s 54 Protestant denominations. Pentecostalism has grown rapidly in recent years, and the Assemblies of God alone claims a membership of over 100,000 people. The Episcopal Church of Cuba claims 10,000 adherents. Cuba has small communities of Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and members of the Bahá'í
[edit] Cuban ancestry
The ancestry of white Cuban (65.05%) comes from one primary European source:
Other European people that have contributed include:
During the 18th, 19th and early part of the 20th century, large waves of Canarian, Catalan, Andalusian and Galician immigrants emigrated to Cuba.
Other Important sources:
People from Asia:
[edit] Origins of Cuban Spanish
Of all the regional variations of the Spanish language, traditional Cuban Spanish is most similar to, and originates largely from the Spanish spoken in the Canary Islands. Cuba owes much of their speech patterns to the Canarian migration, which in the 19th and early 20th Century was heavy and continuous. There was also migrations of Galicians and Asturians as well, but they did not leave a mirror image on their accent on the Cuban accent like the Canarian people did. Much of the typical Cuban replacements for standard Spanish vocabulary stems from Canarian lexicon. For example, guagua (bus) differs from standard Spanish autobús the former originated in the Canaries and is an onomatopoeia stemming from the sound of a Klaxon horn (wah-wah!). An example of Canarian usage for a Spanish word is the verb fajarse [3] ("to fight"). In standard Spanish the verb would be pelearse, while fajar exists as a non-reflexive verb related to the hemming of a skirt.
[edit] Demographic data from the Official 2002 Cuba Census
Life in Cuba |
---|
Art |
Cinema |
Cuisine |
Culture |
Demographics |
Education |
Health |
Holidays |
Human Rights |
Literature |
Music |
Politics |
Religion |
Tourism |
Population | 11,382,820 (July 2006 est.) |
---|---|
Age structure |
|
Median age | Total: 35.9 years
|
Population growth rate | -0.01% (2006 est.) |
Birth rate | 11.89 births/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Death rate | 7.22 deaths/1,000 population (2006 est.) |
Net migration rate | |
Sex ratio |
|
Infant mortality rate | Total: 6.32 deaths/1,000 live births
|
Life expectancy at birth | Total population: 77.41 years
|
Total fertility rate | 1.66 children born/woman (2006 est.) |
HIV/AIDS |
|
Ethnic groups | |
Religions | Nominally 85% Roman Catholic prior to Castro assuming power; Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, and Santeria are also represented. |
Languages |
|
Literacy | Total population: 99.8% (2002 census)
Definition: age 15 and over can read and write |
Illicit migration is a continuing problem. Cubans require Cuban government documentation to leave, and this is commonly refused. Cubans attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts, alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas; Cubans also use non-maritime routes to enter the US including direct flights to Miami and overland via the southwest US/Mexican border, and islands adjacent to Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
[edit] Cuban census 2002
The 2002 census is the most recent official census of Cuba (as of 2007).
[edit] Population by region
Population and Area by region | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Province | Area (km²) |
Area (%) |
Population | Population (%) |
Density |
Cuba Total | 109,886.19 | 100 | 11,177,743 | 100 | 101.72 |
Pinar del Río | 10,904.03 | 9.92 | 726,574 | 6.50 | 66.63 |
La Habana | 5,791.59 | 5.22 | 711,066 | 6.36 | 124.06 |
Ciudad de la Habana | 721.01 | 0.66 | 2,201,610 | 19.70 | 3053.49 |
Matanzas | 11,802.72 | 10.74 | 670,427 | 6.00 | 56.80 |
Villa Clara | 8,412.41 | 7.06 | 817,395 | 7.31 | 97.17 |
Cienfuegos | 4,180.02 | 3.80 | 395,183 | 3.54 | 94.54 |
Sancti Spíritus | 6,736.51 | 6.13 | 460,328 | 4.12 | 68.33 |
Ciego de Ávila | 6,783.13 | 6.17 | 411,766 | 3.68 | 60.70 |
Camagüey | 15,615.02 | 14.21 | 784,178 | 7.02 | 50.22 |
Las Tunas | 6,587.75 | 6.00 | 525,485 | 4.70 | 79.77 |
Holguín | 9,292.83 | 8.46 | 1,021,321 | 9.14 | 109.90 |
Granma | 8,375.49 | 7.62 | 822,452 | 7.36 | 98,20 |
Santiago de Cuba | 6,156.44 | 5.60 | 1,036,281 | 9.27 | 168.32 |
Guantánamo | 6,167.97 | 5.61 | 507,118 | 4.54 | 82.22 |
Isla de la Juventud | 2,419.27 | 2.20 | 86,559 | 0.77 | 35.78 |
[edit] See also
- Cuban American
- White Cuban
- Spanish people
- Canarian people
- Catalan people
- Chinese Cuban
- Afro-Cuban
- Isleños
- Jewish Cuban
- Women in Cuba
- Ranked list of Cuban provinces
[edit] References
- ^ TABLA II.3 POBLACION POR COLOR DE LA PIEL Y GRUPOS DE EDADES, SEGUN ZONA DE RESIDENCIA Y SEXO
- ^ a b Catholic church in Cuba strives to reestablish the faith National Catholic Observer
- ^ fajar at Diccionario de la Real Academia Española.
- ^ CIA - The World Factbook - Cuba
- This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook (2006 edition) which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain.
- Statoids (July 2003). Municipios of Cuba. Retrieved on 2007-02-15.
- Matanzas Portal (2004). Population gowth by municipality and province. Retrieved on 2007-02-21.
- The Peninsular (May 2007). Population, birth rate falling in Cuba: Official
[edit] External links
|