Region: Caribbean

Capital: Havana

Population: 11,047,251 (July 2014 est.)

Surface area: 110,860 sq km


GDP per capita: Purchasing power parity US $9,900 (2010 CIA est.)


Economy – Overview:
The government continues to balance the need for loosening its socialist economic system against a desire for firm political control. The government in April 2011 held the first Cuban Communist Party Congress in almost 13 years, during which leaders approved a plan for wide-ranging economic changes. Since then, the Cuban government has slowly and incrementally implemented limited economic reforms, including allowing Cubans to buy electronic appliances and cell phones, stay in hotels, and buy and sell used cars. The Cuban government also opened up some retail services to “self-employment,” leading to the rise of so-called “cuentapropistas” or entrepreneurs. Recent moves include permitting the private ownership and sale of real estate and new vehicles, allowing private farmers to sell agricultural goods directly to hotels, and expanding categories of self-employment. Despite these reforms, the average Cuban’s standard of living remains at a lower level than before the collapse of the Soviet Union and the resulting downturn of the 1990s. Since late 2000, Venezuela has been providing oil on preferential terms, and it currently supplies over 100,000 barrels per day of petroleum products. Cuba has been paying for the oil, in part, with the services of Cuban personnel in Venezuela, including some 30,000 medical professionals. (CIA 2014)

Major Export Commodities: petroleum, food, machinery and equipment, chemicals

Remittances: Not available

Human Development Index 2013 ranking: 59 out of 186 countries (UNDP 2013)

Official Development Assistance and Major Development Partners: Net ODA US $87,850,000 (OECD 2012) Major development partners: Spain, E.U. United States, Canada, Global Fund (OECD 2010).

Total External Debt: US $23.44 billion (31 December 2012 CIA est.)

Life Expectancy At Birth: 78.22 years (CIA 2014)

Environmental Indicators:
Endangered Species (as a % of all species): 18.1
Forested Area (percentage of land area): 26.1
CO2 Emissions (tonnes per capita): 2.8
(UNDP 2013)

United Nations membership date: 24 October 1945

New York Mission:
Permanent Mission of Cuba to the United Nations
315 Lexington Avenue
New York, N.Y.10016 USA
Telephone: (212)-689-7215, -7216, -7217
Fax: (212) 779-1697, (212) 689-9073

CIA World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
World Development Indicators. World Bank
Human Development Report 2013. United Nations Development Programme.

Updated January 2015