Ageing in Cuba: A Challenge for the Elderly’s Social Protection and the Organization of Care

Abstract

Cuba is one of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean with the most advanced ageing process. It is the result of ambitious public health and gender equality policies, but also of continuous emigration of younger adults. This chapter focuses on the challenges ageing raises in terms of social protection and the organization of care. The first section presents the introduction followed by the second with statistical data on ageing in Cuba, its implications in terms of the labor market, and, in particular, the availability of women involved in care activities. The third section highlights how the health sector has adapted to cope with the growing needs of the older segment of the population. However, these achievements are affected by the economic crisis and the deterioration of environmental determinants of health of older people. Fourthly, this chapter reviews the tensions in the social protection system, and particularly contributory pensions, resulting in the impoverishment of the elderly, while the shrinking of social assistance schemes makes them unable to protect this particularly vulnerable population. Finally, the fifth section shows that the familialistic care system is facing a crisis, in a context where institutional care remains marginal, and the expanding care market becomes available only for relatively affluent families. The conclusion offers prospects for improvement, especially in light of the new family code, adopted in 2022. It remains unclear whether the advances it prescribes in terms of rights and protection for older persons can be met in the context of a severe economic crisis.