Adolescent pregnancy, starting at age 10, remains at a high level and is considered a “serious social and health problem”
14ymedio, Madrid, August 18, 2026 / A total of 49 femicides were tried on the island during 2025. This is indicated by the National Statistics and Information Office (Onei), in a document released this Monday through the Cuban Observatory on Gender Equality (Ocig), which does not specify when the killings occurred.
The figure provided by the official body is, in its own words, that of “female persons aged 15 and older who were victims of murder at the hands of their partners, ex-partners, or other persons for gender-related reasons, known through judicial proceedings tried in the year 2025.” This represents, as the Ocig boasts, “a slight decrease” in the number of murder victims known through judicial proceedings compared to both the previous year (76) and 2023 (60).
For 2025, the platform Alas Tensas recorded 48 femicides, and 14ymedio – which does not consider murders in robberies or other random circumstances to be gender-related – recorded 42. The fact that the official body reports no victims for Matanzas, Villa Clara, Cienfuegos, Sancti Spíritus, Guantánamo, and Isla de la Juventud reaffirms that those 49 reported killings may have occurred in previous years: at least in the first four provinces, according to independent media data, femicides did in fact occur last year.
Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.”
By province, Havana had the most cases (12), and its rate (1.54 per 100,000 women) rises slightly above the average of 1.19/100,000. The highest rate by far is found in Mayabeque, with 4.37/100,000 and 6 victims, followed by Ciego de Ávila, with 2.55/100,000 and 4 women killed, and Camagüey, with 2.16/100,000.
Some 46.9% of the total number of women, the Ocig report states – the office has been operating since 2023 – were “victims of their ex-partner,” and in 89.7% of cases “the act took place in the home.” Of the total, 32 had minor children, who were left motherless, totaling 54 children. 75.5%, the report continues, “had no employment ties.”
The age group with the highest concentration of victims is 22 to 44 years old (38), and by type of area, more cases occur in urban areas (33) than in rural areas (16). Lastly, the Ocig notes: “Behavior by skin color corresponds to the structure of the Cuban population, white women remain the majority. None of the victims had any type of disability at the time of death.”
Furthermore, as also reported in the same document, the adolescent pregnancy rate in Cuba remained at its highest level – between 1.3 in 2021 and 1.4 per 1,000 girls in 2025 – in the youngest age group (10 to 14 years old). That indicator’s trend for the 15-to-19 age group did decline over that period, from 48.5 to 43.2 per 1,000.
“This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society”
For the youngest adolescents (10-14 years old), the highest rates by province were recorded in Mayabeque (2.2 per thousand), Guantánamo (2), Granma and Holguín (both with 1.9), followed by Camagüey (1.8), Pinar del Río (1.7), Las Tunas and Sancti Spíritus (1.4 each).
The Ocig presents the figures with a note: “This is a challenge that limits the full development of girls and adolescents and that involves all of us as a society. Let us care for and educate so as to build a world where every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is without risk, and every young person achieves their full development.”
18% of the total number of adolescent pregnancies in Cuba involve girls under 14 years old, according to official data published by the Ministry of Public Health.
The Deputy Minister of Public Health, Reinol García Moreiro, described the data as worrying. He stressed that births to mothers under 15 years old are on the rise: there were 381 in 2021, while in 2022 and 2023 there were 397 and 419, respectively.
He also warned about unions between adults and minors as one of the main causes of this problem.
Adolescent pregnancy in Cuba is considered a “serious social and health problem” by the authorities, with close to 18-19% of total births coming from mothers between 15 and 19 years old.
Translated by GH.
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