Cuba

By Prof. Raju Vatsavayi

Name

Official name	Republic of Cuba — República de Cuba
Demonym	Cuban; cubano, cubana
Meaning of the name	Taíno — recorded by Columbus as Colba; perhaps cubao, "where fertile land is abundant," or coabana, "great place"
Motto	"Patria o Muerte, Venceremos" — homeland or death, we shall overcome; the cry of the Revolution
Nickname	The Pearl of the Antilles

Quick facts

Capital	Havana — La Habana — founded 1519, the capital since 1607; about 2.1 million
Largest cities	Havana; Santiago de Cuba, about 500,000; Camagüey; Holguín; Santa Clara; Guantánamo; Bayamo
Official language	Spanish
Currency	Cuban peso — ISO code CUP, $; the convertible peso ended 1 January 2021; 120 to the U.S. dollar officially, several times that on the street
Time zone	Cuba Standard Time, UTC−5; summer time UTC−4
Calling code	+53
Internet domain	.cu
ISO 3166 codes	CU · CUB · 192
Vehicle registration code	C
Driving side	Right
Electricity	110 V and 220 V, 60 Hz; plug types A, B, C and L
Independence	20 May 1902, from the United States, after the Spanish–American War of 1898 — the war of independence from Spain begun 10 October 1868
National days	1 January, Liberation Day — the Revolution of 1959; 26 July, the Day of National Rebellion, for the Moncada attack of 1953; 10 October, the Grito de Yara of 1868; 2 December, the Granma landing of 1956
Constitution	10 April 2019 — approved by referendum 24 February 2019, replacing the constitution of 1976; the Communist Party the "superior leading force"
Population	11,167,325 at the census of 2012; about 9.7 million at the end of 2024 (ONEI) — down a million and more since 2020; about 10.9 million by the UN estimate
Area	110,860 km² (42,803 sq mi) — land 109,820 km², water 1,040 km²; the main island 104,556 km², the largest in the Caribbean; the Isla de la Juventud 2,200 km²

Flag & national symbols

National flag	The Lone Star — five horizontal stripes of blue and white, three blue for the old departments and two white for the purity of the cause, with a red triangle at the hoist for the blood of the struggle and a white star for independence; designed by Narciso López and Miguel Teurbe Tolón in 1849, adopted 20 May 1902.Flag of Cuba
Coat of arms	A shield of the key of the Gulf — a golden key between two capes under a rising sun — over the stripes and a royal palm, topped by a Phrygian cap with the star, framed by oak and laurel; designed by Miguel Teurbe Tolón, 1849; adopted 1906
National anthem	"La Bayamesa" — words and music by Perucho Figueredo, first sung at Bayamo on 20 October 1868; official 1902
National motto	"Patria o Muerte, Venceremos"
National colors	Red, white and blue
National bird	The tocororo — the Cuban trogon, in the flag's red, white and blue, which dies in captivity
National tree	The royal palm, Roystonea regia — on the arms
National flower	The mariposa — the white butterfly jasmine, Hedychium coronarium
National sport	Baseball — since the 1860s
National dish	Ropa vieja; moros y cristianos; the Cuban sandwich abroad; widely cited
Symbol status	The flag, arms and anthem are fixed by the law of the national symbols of 2019; the bird, tree and flower are traditional and widely cited; baseball and the dishes widely cited

Geography

Location	The Caribbean — the largest of the Greater Antilles, at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico, 150 km south of Key West across the Florida Straits; Haiti 77 km east across the Windward Passage
Land border	28.5 km (17.7 mi) with the U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay — leased since 1903, the lease disputed by Cuba since 1959
Coastline	3,735 km (2,321 mi)
Highest point	Pico Turquino, 1,974 m (6,476 ft), in the Sierra Maestra
Lowest point	The Caribbean Sea, 0 m
Mean elevation	108 m (354 ft)
Longest river	The Cauto, 343 km (213 mi), in the east; the Toa, the largest by flow, in the Baracoa mountains
Islands	The main island and the Isla de la Juventud, with some 4,000 cays and islets — the Jardines de la Reina, the Sabana–Camagüey archipelago, Cayo Coco and Cayo Largo
Terrain	Plains and rolling hills over most of the island; the Sierra Maestra in the east; the Escambray in the center; the mogotes — limestone hills — of Viñales in the west; the Zapata swamp, the largest wetland in the Caribbean
Climate	Tropical — the wet season from May to October, the dry from November to April; the hurricane season from June to November
Natural hazards	Hurricanes — Irma 2017, Ian 2022, Oscar and Rafael 2024, Melissa 2025; drought; the collapse of the electricity grid
Natural resources	Nickel and cobalt — among the largest reserves in the world, at Moa; iron ore, chromium, copper, salt, timber, oil offshore
Land use	Agricultural land about 60%; forest about 30%
National parks	14 — Alejandro de Humboldt in the east, the richest; Desembarco del Granma; Viñales; Ciénaga de Zapata; Guanahacabibes; Turquino
UNESCO World Heritage	9 — Old Havana and its fortifications (1982); Trinidad and the Valley de los Ingenios (1988); San Pedro de la Roca Castle at Santiago (1997); the Viñales Valley (1999); Desembarco del Granma National Park (1999); the first coffee plantations of the southeast (2000); Alejandro de Humboldt National Park (2001); the urban historic center of Cienfuegos (2005); the historic center of Camagüey (2008)
Administrative divisions	15 provinces — Pinar del Río to Guantánamo, Artemisa and Mayabeque the youngest, 2011 — and the special municipality of the Isla de la Juventud; 168 municipalities

People

Population	11,167,325 (census of 2012); about 9.7 million (ONEI, end of 2024)
Population density	About 90 per km² (230 per sq mi)
Population growth	Negative — the steepest fall in the Americas; more than a million emigrated in 2022–24, most to the United States
Median age	About 43 years — the oldest population in Latin America
Life expectancy	About 78 years
Fertility rate	About 1.4 births per woman
Urban population	About 77%
Adult literacy	About 99.7% — the literacy campaign of 1961
Ethnic groups	White about 64%, mulatto or mestizo about 27%, Black about 9% (census of 2012) — the mix of Spain and West Africa
Languages	Spanish by nearly all — Cuban Spanish; Haitian Creole among the descendants of migrants; English in tourism
Religion	Roman Catholic about 60%, folk religion — Santería, the Afro-Cuban faith of the orishas — widespread, Protestant about 5%; the state officially secular since 1992
Human Development Index	0.764 (2023 data, 2025 report) — high; about 91st of 193
Health and education	Some 8 doctors per 1,000 people, the most in the world; medical brigades abroad the largest export; free schooling to university; the system strained by the crisis
Sport	Baseball — the Serie Nacional; boxing — 41 Olympic golds, the most of any country; athletics — Javier Sotomayor's high-jump record of 2.45 m since 1993; Teófilo Stevenson; chess — José Raúl Capablanca, world champion 1921–27
Diaspora	About 2.5 million of Cuban origin in the United States — Miami and New Jersey — with Spain, Mexico and Italy

Government

Form of government	A unitary one-party socialist republic under the Constitution of 2019 — the Communist Party of Cuba the only legal party and the leading force of state
President	Miguel Díaz-Canel (Communist Party), President of the Republic since 10 October 2019 — head of state and party; president of the Council of State from 19 April 2018, succeeding Raúl Castro; re-elected by the National Assembly 19 April 2023 for a second and last five-year term; born 20 April 1960, an electrical engineer
First Secretary	Díaz-Canel, since 19 April 2021 — the first head of the party not named Castro since 1965; Raúl Castro, born 3 June 1931, retired but consulted
Prime Minister	Manuel Marrero Cruz, since 21 December 2019 — the first prime minister since 1976, a former tourism minister
Parliament	The National Assembly of People's Power — 470 deputies elected in March 2023 from a single approved list, meeting twice a year; its Council of State between sessions; Esteban Lazo its president since 2013
The next election	The Assembly due in 2028; the president chosen by it
The crisis of 2026	After U.S. forces seized Venezuela's president on 3 January 2026, the United States cut off the island's fuel — the executive order of 29 January threatened tariffs on any country supplying oil, Mexico's Pemex halted shipments and tankers were turned away from February; the national grid collapsed repeatedly, for more than 29 hours on 16 March; the U.S. called for Díaz-Canel's resignation, indicted Raúl Castro and spoke of taking the island; Cuba released more than 2,000 prisoners and imposed emergency rationing, called the measures an energy blockade and vowed resistance; a Russian tanker docked on 30 March; Washington's ambassador told the UN in June the cause was the system, not sanctions; protests have been limited
The embargo	The U.S. trade embargo since 7 February 1962 — el bloqueo — tightened by the Helms-Burton Act of 1996, eased under Obama 2014–2016, tightened again since 2017; Cuba returned to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in January 2025; the UN General Assembly has voted against the embargo every year since 1992
Legal system	Civil law under socialist principles; the People's Supreme Court
Provinces	15 and the Isla de la Juventud, each with a provincial governor since 2020
Armed forces	The Revolutionary Armed Forces, FAR — the army whose enterprises, under GAESA, run much of the economy
United Nations	A founding member, 24 October 1945
Memberships	CELAC, the ALBA alliance, the Non-Aligned Movement, the G77; a BRICS partner country since 2025; the OAS suspension of 1962 lifted in 2009, not taken up

Economy

GDP (nominal)	About US$100 billion at the official exchange rate, as the state reports it — no IMF or World Bank figure exists, and at street rates the economy is a fraction of that
GDP per capita	About US$10,000 at the official rate; state salaries of a few dollars a month at street rates
GDP growth	Negative — the economy shrank about 2% in 2023, about 1% in 2024 and sharply in 2026 under the fuel cut-off; inflation in the hundreds of percent on the street
Economy by sector	Services about 75% — state employment and tourism; industry about 22%; agriculture about 3%
Currency	Cuban peso (CUP); the dollar and euro in the private economy
Exports	Medical services abroad — the doctors, worth billions a year; nickel and cobalt from Moa; cigars — Habanos, the most valuable in the world; rum; sugar, fallen from 8 million metric tons in 1989 to under 200,000; tobacco; seafood; charcoal
Tourism	About 4.7 million visitors in 2018, about 2 million in 2025 and fewer since — Canadians, Europeans, the diaspora
Remittances	From the diaspora — among the largest sources of hard currency, some US$2–3 billion a year
Energy	Oil from Venezuela and Mexico until 2026 — about 60% of consumption imported; the aging thermoelectric plants — Guiteras, Felton — and the grid collapses of 2024, 2025 and 2026; solar farms built with Chinese help
Private sector	Some 11,000 small and medium private enterprises licensed since 2021, the first since 1968; the paladares and the mipymes
Income classification	Upper-middle income by the World Bank's last classification, on data it no longer receives

Transport & infrastructure

Main airport	José Martí International Airport, Havana; Varadero; Santiago de Cuba; Holguín; Cayo Coco
Airline	Cubana de Aviación, founded 1929 — among the oldest in Latin America; grounded on most routes for lack of fuel and parts
Main ports	Havana; Mariel, the container port and special development zone opened 2014; Santiago de Cuba; Cienfuegos; Matanzas
Railways	About 8,000 km (5,000 mi) — the first railway in Latin America, Havana to Bejucal, opened 19 November 1837, before Spain had one; the Central Railway the spine; run down for lack of parts
Roads	About 60,000 km (37,000 mi); the Carretera Central from Pinar del Río to Santiago, 1931; the Autopista Nacional; the classic American cars of the 1950s still in service
The Malecón	Havana's 8 km seawall and promenade, 1901–1958

History in dates

1492	Columbus lands, 28 October
1511	Diego Velázquez founds Baracoa; the conquest — Hatuey burned at the stake
1519	Havana founded
1762	The British take Havana; returned for Florida in 1763
1868	The Grito de Yara, 10 October — the Ten Years' War
1886	Slavery abolished
1895	José Martí launches the War of Independence; killed at Dos Ríos, 19 May
1898	The Maine explodes in Havana harbor, 15 February; the Spanish–American War
1902	The Republic of Cuba, 20 May — under the Platt Amendment
1952	Fulgencio Batista's coup, 10 March
1953	The attack on the Moncada barracks, 26 July
1956	The Granma lands, 2 December — Fidel, Raúl, Che in the Sierra Maestra
1959	Batista flees; the Revolution triumphs, 1 January
1961	The Bay of Pigs, 17–19 April; Cuba declared socialist
1962	The U.S. embargo, 7 February; the Missile Crisis, 16–28 October
1980	The Mariel boatlift — 125,000 leave
1991	The Soviet Union falls; the Special Period
2006–2008	Fidel Castro hands power to Raúl
2015	Diplomatic relations with the U.S. restored, 20 July; Obama visits, March 2016
2016	Fidel Castro dies, 25 November
2018	Miguel Díaz-Canel president, 19 April
2021	The convertible peso ends, 1 January; the protests of 11 July; Raúl Castro retires
2022–2024	The great emigration; the grid collapses, October 2024
2026	The fuel cut-off and the crisis, from January

Records & firsts

The largest island in the Caribbean	104,556 km²
The first railway in Latin America	Havana–Bejucal, 1837
The most doctors per head	About 8 per 1,000
The most Olympic boxing golds	41
The high-jump record	Javier Sotomayor, 2.45 m, 1993 — unbeaten
The cigar	The Habano — Cohiba, Montecristo, Partagás
The Missile Crisis	October 1962 — the closest the world has come to nuclear war
The longest-serving revolutionary leader	Fidel Castro, 1959–2008
A world chess champion	Capablanca, 1921–27
The literacy campaign	1961 — illiteracy from 23% to about 4% in a year
The Buena Vista Social Club	The son of Cuba on the world's stages, 1997
The exodus	More than a million gone in three years — a tenth of the nation

Frequently asked questions

What is the official name of Cuba?

The Republic of Cuba — República de Cuba — since the first republic of 20 May 1902, kept through the Revolution of 1959 and the constitutions of 1976 and 2019. The name is Taíno, recorded by Columbus in 1492 as Colba — perhaps from cubao, "where fertile land is abundant," or coabana, "great place"; the origin is not settled.

What is the capital of Cuba?

Havana — La Habana — on the north coast, founded in 1519 and the capital since 1607, with about 2.1 million people; its old city and fortifications a World Heritage site since 1982. Santiago de Cuba in the east is the second city and the cradle of the Revolution; Camagüey, Holguín, Santa Clara and Guantánamo follow.

How big is Cuba, and how many people live there?

About 110,860 km² (42,803 sq mi) — the largest island in the Caribbean, a little smaller than Pennsylvania — with a coast of 3,735 km and some 4,000 cays and islets, the Isla de la Juventud the largest. The census of 2012 counted 11,167,325 people; the statistics office ONEI reported about 9.7 million at the end of 2024, after an emigration of more than a million people in 2022–24, the largest in the island's history, while the UN still estimates about 10.9 million. The population is the oldest in Latin America.

What are the highest and lowest points of Cuba?

Pico Turquino, 1,974 m (6,476 ft), in the Sierra Maestra of the southeast — the mountains from which the Revolution was fought — and the Caribbean Sea. Most of the island is plain and rolling hill, with the Sierra Maestra in the east, the Escambray in the center and the mogotes of Viñales in the west.

What currency does Cuba use?

The Cuban peso (ISO code CUP, $), the only currency since the convertible peso was withdrawn on 1 January 2021 — at an official rate of 120 to the U.S. dollar for the public and several times that on the street, where the dollar and the euro circulate. Clocks keep Cuba Standard Time, UTC−5, with summer time UTC−4.

Who governs Cuba?

The Communist Party of Cuba, the only party under the Constitution, through Miguel Díaz-Canel — President of the Republic since 19 April 2018, re-elected by the National Assembly in April 2023, and first secretary of the party since 19 April 2021, when Raúl Castro retired. Manuel Marrero has been prime minister since 21 December 2019. Since January 2026 the government has faced the gravest crisis since the fall of the Soviet Union: the United States cut off the island's fuel after seizing Venezuela's president, called for Díaz-Canel's resignation and threatened force, and the grid has collapsed repeatedly; Havana calls it an energy blockade, Washington says the fault is the system.

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