General information about Cuba
The official name is the Republic of Cuba (Republica de Cuba, Republic of Cuba).
Located in the West Indies. It occupies an archipelago that is part of the Greater Antilles group. Includes the islands of Cuba (area 104.9 thousand km2), Juventud (2.2 thousand km2) and more than 1600 small islands (3.7 thousand km2). The total area is 110,860 km2. The population is 11.2 million people. (2002). The official language is Spanish. The capital is Havana (2.2 million people, 2002). Public holidays – Liberation Day on January 1 (1959), National Uprising Day on July 26 (1953). The monetary unit is the Cuban peso (equal to 100 centavos).
Member of the UN (since 1945), Leningrad NPP (since 1975), ACG (since 1994), LAI (since 1999), WTO (since 1995), etc.
Geography of Cuba
According to allcitycodes.com, Cuba is located between 19°49′ and 23°15′ north latitude and 74°08′ and 84°57′ west longitude. It is washed by the waters of the Atlantic Ocean in the east, the Caribbean Sea in the south and the Gulf of Mexico in the west. The length of the coastline of the island of Cuba is 5746 km. The coast is characterized by deep-water bays (Matanzas, Nipe, Guantanamo) and many convenient bays. The island is surrounded by reefs and other coral formations.
Cuba is separated from the United States by the Florida Strait (180 km in its narrowest part), from Haiti by the Windward Strait (77 km), from Jamaica by the Colon Strait (140 km) and from Mexico by the Yucatan Strait (210 km).
Most (about 2/3 of the territory) of the island of Cuba is a flat or slightly undulating plain. The most significant hills and mountains are located in the south-east of the country. The highest points are the peaks of Turquino (1974 m), Cuba (1872) and Sweden (1734) in the Sierra Maestra mountain range.
The rivers are short and shallow. The largest (km): Cauto (370), Sagua la Grande (163), Sasa (155). There are no significant lakes.
Soils are represented by krasnozems (the most common), chernozems and brown soils.
The flora includes up to 8 thousand species of tropical flora (including 90 species of palms). Forests cover approx. 1/4 territory. The fauna is characterized by the poverty of vertebrates and the abundance of lower species (rodents, insectivores, bats), as well as the absence of predatory mammals and poisonous individuals.
Of the minerals, large deposits of nickel-cobalt and iron ores are of the greatest importance. There are also chromites, manganese, copper, lead, zinc, tungsten. Among non-metallic minerals, marls, magnesites, dolomites, refractory and ceramic clays, and marble stand out. Proven reserves: oil 283.5 million barrels, nickel 5.6 million tons, cobalt – 1 million tons.
The climate is tropical, trade wind. The average annual temperature is +25.5°C. The coldest month is January (+22.5°С), the hottest is August (+27.8°С). The rainy season is May-October, the dry season is November-April. The average annual rainfall is 1400 mm.
Cuban population
Population dynamics (thousand people, at the middle of the year): 1990 – 10,628, 1995 – 10,964, 2000 – 11,199, 2001 – 11,230. Birth rate 12.08%, infant mortality 7.27 people per 1000 newborns, life expectancy 76.6 years (2002 estimate). Sex and age structure of the population: 0-14 years – 20.6% (men 1,188,125, women 1,125,743), 15-64 years – 69.3% (3,902,162, 3,880,531), 65 years and older – 10.1% (520,849, 606,911) (2002 est.). Urban population 73.3%. Population density 101.5 people. per 1 km2. Citizens who have worked for 25 years and have reached the age of 60 (men) and 55 (women) have the right to retire. Illiterate among the population aged 10 years and older is 3.8%.
Ethnic composition (%): mulattoes – 51, whites – 37, blacks – 11 and Chinese – 1. Language – Spanish.
Most believers profess Catholicism, a smaller part – Protestantism, Judaism and Afro-Cuban cults.
