Cuban Health Crisis: Infant Mortality in Havana Reaches Alarming Highs

Havana is currently experiencing the highest infant mortality rate in Cuba, with a staggering 14 deaths per 1,000 live births. This unprecedented figure, not seen in over two decades, was acknowledged by the regime's authorities during a recent Communist Party meeting in the capital.

This alarming statistic, which far exceeds the national average of 8.2‰ reported by authorities in July 2025, highlights the rapid decline of Cuba's healthcare system. This system has been plagued by shortages, an exodus of medical professionals, and institutional disorganization.

In the party meeting held last Friday, the leader, Miguel Díaz-Canel, attempted to downplay the crisis with the oft-repeated phrase: “Despite the fuel blockade, we will not be defeated by the empire.”

Beyond the empty propaganda, months ago, the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) admitted to a sustained increase in both infant and maternal mortality rates. They acknowledged that only 30% of essential medications are available, and hospitals suffer from severe shortages of supplies, incubators, ambulances, and specialists.

In July 2025, Minister José Ángel Portal Miranda reported 8.2 infant deaths per 1,000 live births, up from 7.4 the previous year, and a maternal mortality rate that rose to 56.3 per 100,000 live births, nearly double that of 2023.

Impact of Epidemics on Infant Mortality

The health crisis has been exacerbated by outbreaks of chikungunya and dengue, which claimed dozens of lives, mostly children, between November and December. During the last phase of the outbreak, 63 minors were hospitalized in serious condition, with 16 in critical condition, according to official figures provided by epidemiologist Francisco Durán.

Meanwhile, Deputy Health Minister Carilda Peña García claimed on national television that “the Cuban system is better than many countries,” even as she confirmed the deaths of 33 people, 21 of whom were children.

This contradiction between propaganda and tragedy has become emblematic of a system that refuses to acknowledge its own collapse.

Historical Decline in Health Indicators

Nationally, the figures indicate a historic regression. In 2018, Cuba boasted an infant mortality rate of 3.9 per 1,000 live births; today, it is nearly tripled, as the regime continues to blame the “blockade” and refuses to acknowledge the impact of its centralized economic model, institutional corruption, and lack of investment in hospital infrastructure.

In provinces like Guantánamo, the rate surged to 13.9 in May 2025, while authorities responded by calling for "strengthening political work" in hospitals, instead of sending medications or medical personnel.

Demographic data paint an even bleaker picture. With the lowest birth rate in 60 years (fewer than 90,000 births in 2023) and an aging population, Cuba faces an unprecedented combination of health, migration, and social crises.

More doctors are leaving the country, obstetric and pediatric services are collapsing, and epidemics are spreading uncontrollably due to a lack of insecticides, transportation, and basic resources.

Meanwhile, official propaganda continues to tout “social achievements” and “heroic resistance.” Díaz-Canel even claimed that Cuba maintains “social results that the United States does not have,” in an attempt to uphold the old narrative of the “socialist model” as a guarantor of equality and justice. But international indicators—from the Human Development Index to Freedom House and Reporters Without Borders—place the island far from that discourse: poorer, sicker, less free.

Comparing Havana's Mortality Rates Globally

In a country once touted as a “medical powerhouse,” more children are dying, fewer Cubans are being born, and hospitals are collapsing.

Infant mortality has become the most painful barometer of an exhausted nation, where the regime prefers to talk about imperialism rather than face empty incubators.

The figure revealed by the regime—14 infant deaths per 1,000 live births in Havana—not only sets an internal record but also places the Cuban capital on par with countries with significantly lower human development levels.

According to the official series from the World Bank and the United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME, UNICEF, WHO, and World Bank), Cuba's national average rate in 2023 (latest published data) was 6.6 per 1,000 live births, less than half of what is now recorded in the capital.

This difference suggests an alarming internal gap within a country that for decades prided itself on its “universal and free” healthcare system. If the MINSAP figures are confirmed, Havana would be more comparable to Vietnam (14.0), Suriname (15.2), or Morocco (15.5) than its national average. In contrast, countries with high human development like Japan (1.8), Iceland (1.9), or Singapore (1.7) maintain rates nearly ten times lower.

The comparison is devastating as it dismantles the official rhetoric of a “medical powerhouse.” Cuba no longer resembles the welfare model it defended for decades but instead regresses to the indicators of nations with much more precarious healthcare structures.

While the regime continues to blame the U.S. embargo or an “economic war,” the data show a sustained deterioration due to internal causes: the massive exodus of doctors, lack of hospital investment, shortage of basic medications, and corruption in resource management.

The numbers can no longer be glossed over. The collapse of healthcare services, preventable deaths, and widespread poverty contradict the narrative of a “revolutionary health system” that only survives in televised speeches.

What was once the showcase of the socialist model, the Cuban capital, has become the starkest reflection of its failure: hospitals without medicines, neighborhoods without water, births without incubators, and an infant mortality rate that soars above the national average.

On the global map of child health, Havana no longer competes with the figures of developed countries but with those still struggling to survive.