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First
Cuba Population Drop in 25 Years
Yahoo!
News.
HAVANA, 16 (AP) -- Cuba's population fell
in 2006 for the first time in 25 years,
dropping by about 4,300 inhabitants, state
media reported Wednesday.
Child births fell 14 percent, to just more
than 111,000 last year from about 129,700
in 2005, the Communist Party newspaper Granma
quoted Juan Carlos Alfonso, director of
the Center for Populations Studies and Development,
as saying. Alfonso's center is part of the
island's National Office of Statistics.
The reason for the sharp decline was not
given, though Alfonso said Cuba's over-60
population has grown, a fact that could
contribute to declining births.
The article said 2006 marked the first
population decline in a quarter century,
but did not specify the exact year of the
last drop. It did not give Cuba's total
population for last year or 2005. The CIA
World Fact Book 2007 estimate is nearly
11.4 million.
Granma reported that the average size of
Cuban families is three people, presumably
couples with just one child.
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