Cuba: A Pictorial Glimpse Continued

September 1, 2008

Cuba has a mixed population, with one percent Chinese, eleven percent black, thirty seven percent white and a major fifty one percent being mixed black and white, mulatto. The female population is 5,580,500 while the male population is around 5,597,233. The birth rate of Cuba at 9.88 births per thousand is one of the lowest in all of the Western Hemisphere. The population rate has stopped in the last few decades, though the total population has increased from seven million to around twelve million since the sixties.
Cuba has socialist principles and has a state controlled economy. The government controls the major means of production. Most of the labor force is employed by the state. The private sector is just starting out. The main industries in Cuba are the petroleum, tobacco, nickel, cement, steel, agricultural machinery, pharmaceuticals and the sugar industries. The Cuban GDP is around $32 billion. Cuba’s major agricultural products are tobacco, citrus, rice, potatoes, beans, livestock and sugar. The currency of Cuba is the Cuban Peso.
In February 2008, an aged and ailing Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba’s president, ending 49 years of uninterrupted rule. He named his brother, Raul, as successor.