- 313,414 people left permanently, although the return of 72,056 slightly softened the figure
- 180 days of residency on the island will no longer be required to obtain effective residency
Official statistics have put numbers to the perception that Cuba’s migration crisis has no end. In 2025, 313,414 people left the island permanently, although the return of 72,056 slightly softened the figure, leaving a net migration balance of 245,264. The worst of the last five years remains, by far, 2022, when the country lost half a million inhabitants, while in 2023 the figure was 330,000 and a year later 307,961. These are, once again, unprecedented figures for a country that is not at war. Cuba’s population, as the official press had already reported a few days earlier, stood at 9,434,593 people at the end of last year.
The capital leads the exodus by a wide margin, with 98,773 emigrants, followed by Matanzas, Villa Clara, Santiago de Cuba, and Camagüey, which lost more than 20,000 people last year. Between 10,000 and 15,500 emigrants were recorded in Holguín, Sancti Spíritus, Cienfuegos, Ciego de Ávila, Las Tunas, and Mayabeque. At the bottom of the list are Guantánamo, Pinar del Río, Artemisa, Granma, and the Isla de la Juventud.
To these figures must be added the low birth rate of 2025, with only 68,051 births, and the very high mortality rate, 134,354 deaths, which left a negative natural balance of 66,303 people. In this regard, the mortality rate – already reported in January by the official press – stood at 9.9 per thousand live births. The detail is even more alarming given that Havana has a rate of 14.2, Isla de la Juventud 12.9, and Camagüey 12.4 – figures more typical of the rest of the continent than of a country that, until a few years ago, had First World figures of between 3 and 5 per thousand.
The detail is even more alarming given that Havana has a rate of 14.2, Isla de la Juventud 12.9, and Camagüey 12.4
As a result, the Yearbook reveals another figure that continues to rise: the mean and median age. Both indicators have risen two points compared with 2021 and now stand at 43 and 45 years respectively, higher for women (44.1 and 46.5) than for men (42.9 and 43.3).
The information comes on the same day that Cubadebate published a special report explaining certain details of the new Migration, Citizenship, and Immigration laws, which the Government published in the Official Gazette this past May and which take effect in 180 days. First Colonel Mario Méndez Mayedo, head of the Directorate of Identification, Immigration, and Foreign Nationals Affairs at the Ministry of the Interior, answered a list of questions whose responses contain few new developments; the main one concerns effective migratory residency – an expansion of the recognition of effective residency.
As was already known, the concept recognizes those who maintain “their principal connection with Cuba,” where they live their lives because they remain there – generally – for most of the year. Therefore, a foreigner needs to live on the island for 180 days to acquire this status. “However, the law incorporates a broader concept that is not limited solely to length of stay. Effective residency may also be recognized for those who remain in the country for at least 120 days, provided they can demonstrate genuine ties to Cuba through family, employment, economic, or property connections,” explains the official, who justifies this by the need to prevent a mere number from being used to limit these rights.
The rights that will be recognized will not, in any case, include political rights. Whether a foreigner recognized as a resident of Cuba may or may not vote in elections will be addressed in a separate law, the Electoral Law, Méndez clarified.
Among the other key points highlighted in the laws is the regulation, for the first time, of the renunciation of Cuban citizenship, which must be requested through the consulate abroad, and its recovery, which can be done only once, after a minimum of five years from the loss and under certain requirements. Children of Cubans also retain the right to apply for citizenship.
Cubans living abroad may remain in Cuba for as long as they wish without limit, without having to complete paperwork or request extensions of stay. As usual, if they retain their nationality, they must enter the country using their Cuban passport – if it has expired, entry is still permitted, but they are required to renew it before they can leave – and the rights and obligations arising from it will apply to them.
Whether a foreigner recognized as a resident of Cuba may or may not vote in elections will be addressed in a separate law, the Electoral Law, Méndez clarified
Among the rights that were previously lost but that the new law now allows them to retain are property rights, including the right to keep property, inherit, and conduct business.
For foreigners who do not live in Cuba but wish to participate in its economy, a new category has been created: Investment and Business for emigration. “While they remain in Cuba, they will enjoy the rights that the legal system grants to Cuban citizens, which strengthens the legal security of their projects and investments in the country,” the official states, in a superficial reference to a core issue.
There is also another new category that did not exist before, that of humanitarian resident, and the Migration Police is officially established, whose functions are “prevention, attention to migrants, protection of their rights, social discipline, and public order. It will also contribute to the execution of decisions adopted by the courts and migratory authorities within the scope of their competencies.” That is no small matter for the tiny – undisclosed – number of foreigners who wish to live in Cuba.
Translated by GH.
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