III.

Population

Havana's population was estimated to be 2,168,255 in 2007 estimate, and it is distributed over a total area of 727 sq km (281 sq mi). Its inhabitants, who are known as Habaneros, account for about 20 percent of the nation's population. Havana is Cuba's largest city, nearly five times larger than the next largest city, Santiago de Cuba, whose population numbers about 400,000. The city is typical of many other Latin American capital cities, known as primate cities. A primate city often accounts for a large percentage of a nation's population and dominates its political, economic, and cultural life.

Yet Havana is different. While the populations of most other primate cities in Latin America, such as Mexico City or São Paulo, Brazil, have grown rapidly in the last 30 or 40 years, Havana's population has remained stable. Strict government policies designed to curtail immigration to the city have contributed to this. In addition, after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, large numbers of the city’s residents emigrated to the United States. In contrast, the city grew rapidly during the first half of the 20th century. Its population stood at about 250,000 at the turn of the century, grew to about 750,000 by 1931, and reached 1.25 million in 1953.

Whites of Spanish origin and blacks from West Africa have constituted the principal population groups in Havana since the city’s founding. Because the Cuban government does not include race in its census records, statistical data on the breakdown of Cuba’s racial groups is difficult to find. Unofficial estimates for 1995 suggest that the population is 66 percent white, 22 percent mulatto, and 12 percent black. The accuracy of these figures is questionable, however, and many experts on Cuba’s population believe that a sizeable proportion of the population has a mixture of black and white ancestry. Havana also has a very small Asian population. The island's indigenous inhabitants succumbed to diseases introduced from Europe and to abuses committed by early Spanish colonizers during the 1500s. They never composed a major component of the city's population mix.

During the early decades of the 16th century, black slaves, imported in large numbers as domestic and agricultural workers, outnumbered Havana's white population by a wide margin. Over half a million African slaves were imported into Cuba between 1510 and 1865 to work in the nation’s sugar fields. Since Havana served as the principal port and slave market, slaves became an important segment of Havana's population. Free blacks remained an integral part of the population after the abolition of slavery in 1886. The racial composition of the city's population changed throughout the colonial period as interracial marriages increased the relative proportion of mixed-blood peoples, or mestizos as they are known in Cuba.

After Cuba’s independence from Spain in 1898, Spaniards, especially from the regions of Asturias and Galicia, flocked to Cuba. Nearly one million had arrived by 1925, with many settling in Havana. During the last half of the 1800s over 100,000 indentured Chinese laborers arrived in Cuba, as sugar producers anticipated the abolition of slavery and sought other sources of labor to work the sugarcane fields. Most of these eventually came to Havana, and during the first half of the 20th century Havana boasted a vibrant Chinatown, the Barrio Chino. However, most of the city's Chinese left the country after the 1959 revolution.

Following the Cuban Revolution, Havana’s population mix changed significantly. The wealthy elite, professionals, business people, and their families, most of whom were white, left Cuba in droves for the United States. Of the more than 1 million Cubans who left their country in this massive exodus, the vast majority came from Havana.

The role of religion in the life of Havana's residents is limited. Nearly half of the city's residents do not identify with any formal religious group. The Roman Catholic Church has had a strong historical connection with Cuba, and Roman Catholics represent the largest religious group. However, since the Cuban Revolution the role of the church in Cuba has diminished greatly. The postrevolutionary government has discouraged church attendance and participation in church activities. There are few priests and religious services are sparsely attended. However, a visit to Havana by Pope John Paul II in January 1998 sparked renewed interest in Catholicism among a number of Cubans.

Protestant religious organizations are few and are under constant pressure from the government. A thriving Jewish community existed in Havana after World War II (1939-1945) and numbered nearly 50,000, but it has all but disappeared. Santería, a mixture of Roman Catholicism and African religious practices, is widely practiced.

Spanish is the national language of Cuba and is spoken by all Habaneros. There are no concentrations of minority language speakers in Havana or in Cuba. English, French, German, and Russian are the most common foreign languages known to Havana's residents. However, those fluent in any of these languages are comparatively few and are found mostly in institutions of higher education or in tourist areas. Since the breakup of the USSR, Russian influence has waned dramatically, and it is likely there will be fewer and fewer Russian language speakers in the future.