Ninety-four percent of Cubans live in extreme poverty, human rights observatory says

Ninety-four percent of Cubans live in extreme poverty, and eight out of 10 have had to give up at least one daily meal over the past year because food was unavailable or they could not afford it, according to a report by the Cuban Observatory for Human Rights.

The report, titled "The State of Social Rights in Cuba," was presented Monday in Madrid. Yaxys Cires, the observatory’s director of strategy, said it documented the growing impoverishment of Cuban families.

The organization compared its 2026 figures with those from 2025. Using World Bank standards, it put the share of Cubans living in extreme poverty at 89% in 2025, five percentage points below the current figure.

The study draws on 1,318 interviews with people living in Cuba conducted in July. Respondents identified power outages as the country’s main social problem requiring urgent action. The food crisis, the cost of living, healthcare and wages followed.

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the growing impoverishment of Cuban families