The States of Social Rights in Cuba. Report #8 (2025)

89% of Cuban families suffer from extreme poverty, and 78% want to leave or know someone who wants to leave the country.

Millions of Cubans live their lives between denial of the issues, persistent calls for resistance, and the authorities’ never-ending blaming of others due to the food crisis, the cost of living, poor wages, ineffective public health care, and constant blackouts.

There are still those who believe that Cuba is a paradise of social rights. The findings we provided in these reports since 2019 reveal a reality that is completely at contradiction with government propaganda regarding the status of social rights and disprove a political argument that justified restricting the exercise of civil rights and liberties in exchange for “social achievements” that are not visible in any neighborhood or street on the island.

With data in hand, gathered from thousands of interviews conducted nationwide, we have consistently cautioned since the outset that a severe and expanding crisis in every sphere of social life would be an unmistakable outcome of the current system’s failure. The dire demographic situation, the loss of life expectancy, and the deterioration of internal security are just three examples.

In July, the now former Minister of Labor and Social Security denied the existence of beggars in Cuba: “There are no beggars in Cuba… There are people who pretend to be beggars to make easy money,” disregarding the fact that 89% of Cuban families live in extreme poverty, that 7 out of 10 Cubans must forgo some of their daily meals, and that only 3% can purchase medication at pharmacies. It also ignores the fact that 12% of people over 70 continue to work after retirement in order to survive, as 58% of people in that age group make less than 4,500 Cuban pesos per month, to name just a few statistics. Regretfully, this is not the first time that a high-ranking government official has disregarded the situation of the Cuban people, and we may predict that it will not be the last.

The evolving situation we have captured in our reports obviously does not offer hope for the future; therefore, even though it is sad to admit a tragic fact, it makes sense that 78% of Cubans surveyed for this study want to leave or know someone who wants to leave the country.

It is also consistent with the high level of disapproval of the government’s economic and social management found in this survey, which has reached 92% since we measured this parameter.

As in previous reports, this eighth report provides objective data to the investigation into the state of social rights on the island; at the same time, it reveals the seriousness of a situation that requires urgent solutions that are not only temporary but also, and primarily, structural.