Located in the Caribbean, Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Cuba is the largest island in the Caribbean and the second most populous after Hispaniola. The island of Cuba lies to the south of the Unites States, to the southwest of the Bahamas, east of Mexico, north of the Cayman Islands and Jamaica and northwest to Haiti and the Dominican Republic. In the northwest of the island lies Havana, the country’s capital and
by far. Despite the diminishing
of Cuba has remained constant over the past decade. Due to increasing life expectancy in Cuba, the
is increasing.
One of the last bastions of communism
On a historical note, Cuba achieved its independence from Spain in 1898. Over 60 years later, in 1959, Fidel Castro came into the presidency after overthrowing the current government. Castro established a government based on the principles of communism, which theoretically include equality, health care services available from the government, and making educational services public and mandatory for all citizens. Following a trade embargo imposed by U.S. President Kennedy and the United States in 1962, Cuba lost trade relations with the U.S. and its subsidiaries. Consequently, Cuba was forbidden to import or export crucial alimentary and medical supplies and relied heavily on Soviet backing, including annual subsidies worth over four billion U.S. dollars. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Cuba struggled once again to maintain its economy due to the discontinued financial aid from the Soviet Union.
Cuba's economy
Despite the economic sanctions, the Cuban economy has been growing over the past decade. Between 2009 and 2019,
gross domestic product has increased by 60 percent. Subsequently, there has been a positive
growth rate of the real GDP during most of that time. Today, Cuba still relies heavily on imported goods. Spain, Cuba’s
most important import partner in 2019, provides around a fifth of all imports. As a result of the imposed embargo by the United States, which means severe restrictions to exports, and Cuba's high value of imports, Cuba's
trade balanceis perpetually in the red.
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