Abstract
Excerpted by the author, translated and reprinted with permission from Novedades en Población. No. 7, Jul–Dec 2014;79–92. Original available from: http://www.novpob.uh.cu/index.php/rnp/article/view/219
Highlights
The reduction of fertility levels [in Cuba], at least from 1990 until now, has become an object of increasing attention by demographers, researchers and actors from different sectors of society
It is well known that the Cuban population’s reproductive capacity has undergone an accelerated historic decline, leading to the total annual fertility rate falling below replacement level in less than half a century
Even some populations relatively lacking in economic development, have already reported sustained population decreases,[3] their fertility descending to historical minimum levels,[4] well below projections to 2030.[5]
Summary
The reduction of fertility levels [in Cuba], at least from 1990 until now, has become an object of increasing attention by demographers, researchers and actors from different sectors of society. Many populations are below replacement level and are in the so-called second demographic transition.[1] Having completed the first transition towards the end of 20th century, [in such populations] families’ needs to make the most of limited resources available during the 1990s (marked by an acute economic crisis) led to couples delaying childbearing and reducing family size in response to hard economic times, and to postponement of new investments in human capital [represented by new children]. The most remarkable thing is that, while a wide range of fertility levels is observed for fixed HDI values, fertility changes are only partly attributable to development level; there is a sizable group of other factors, whose action is indispensable to fully explain changes in total fertility rate, complementing the part explained by economic progress
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