• Submitted by: admin
• Health and Medicine
• 07 / 24 / 2007

Precisely, those three elementary human rights are the foundation of more than 200 social programs being implemented in Cuba to improve the people's welfare and increase life expectancy, which is 76.8 years at present.

According to statistics, 1.7 million Cubans are over 60 years of age, and as experts predict, one-fourth of Cuban citizens will be over that age by 2025, so the Caribbean island will have the oldest population in Latin America, but it will also have the best welfare.

Statistics also show that 15.8 percent of Cuba's population is over 60 years old and that the island nation is one of the Latin American countries with the highest life expectancy, along with Uruguay and Argentina.

Juan Carlos Alfonso, head of the Center for Studies on Population and Development, attached to the National Statistics Office, explained that the Cuban people's average age will be one of the highest in the world in 2050.

He added that the Cuban people will age gradually, as life expectancy will increase and the birth and mortality rates will continue to decrease.

The social and economic policies will also contribute to the aging of the population in Cuba, where no one is needed and must have an occupation, because it is a way for people to feel useful and contribute to society, added Alfonso.

He pointed out that more than 14,000 senior citizen's clubs will operate in the country, as well as 170 community houses for the elderly and several geriatric centers or homes to guarantee a satisfactory and active life at old age.

Source: Prensa Latina