Cuba's population is decreasing and aging at the same time, and much like in European countries, the phenomenon is worrying authorities. In the 1990s Cuba reached 11 million inhabitants, a figure that has until recently remained stable. Now lower birth-rates combined with people living longer has changed that. "It's not a minor issue," Juan Carlos Alfonso Fraga, the deputy head of the National Statistics and Information Office (ONEI), told The Associated Press. According to experts fewer births and an aging population imply economic difficulties in the future: there will be less people in the labour force and greater pressure on pensions and the elderly care system. The situation in Cuba is one that's unique in the Caribbean. But one felt by countries like France, Spain or Germany in Europe, and Uruguay and Costa Rica in Latin America. In the case of the European countries, the gap is compensated by the arrival of migrants of working age or those of childbearing age. But Cuba not only does not receive migrants; more and more people are leaving the island. If the figure of 11,089,500 Cubans living on the island is worrying, the unofficial estimate is more disturbing. Experts agree that there are little more than 10 million inhabitants in Cuba this year, but the official count does not include the 334,000 Cubans that U.S. authorities found on its southern border between October 2021 and last December, nor the thousands who are estimated to have emigrated to other nations in Europe and Latin America. The causes are complicated. Higher levels of education for women and easy access to contraceptives and legal abortion means that women typically have less than 2 children. Another factor is the worsening situation of the country. With low salaries, high cost of living and a housing crisis that forces many young families to share their homes with their parents and, in many cases their grandparents, the appeal of having to share their space with children is dwindling. "The situation is a bit difficult and for that reason I understand that there are many women who give up on wanting to become mothers or postpone it," said Yenima Piñeiro, a 32-year-old state employee who in 2022 had Gabriel, her first child. She, her husband, the baby, her mother-in-law and an uncle live in a small house with a kitchen-dining room, two bedrooms and a bathroom. Even Gabriel was born in spite of protestations by her parents. Concern about the population was admitted by the Cuban government, who noted that that are 2.4 million people over 60, the retirement age, which represents slightly more than 20% of the total population of the island and it is expected that by 2030 this age group will exceed 30%. A policy to support fertility programs and to assist mothers with more than three children was updated to include incentives like the delivery of a house, but these have not yet been implemented.