CONDITIONS IN CUBA AS REVEALED BY THE CENSUS 201 



of the population of Cuba; Santiago de 

 Cuba, 45,470; Matanzas, 36,009; Cienfu- 

 egos, 30,100; and Camaguey, 29,616. The 

 number of inhabitants per square mile in 

 the island as a whole was 46.5, or about 

 the same as in Missouri, Virginia, or 

 South Carolina. 



The foreign-born population formed 

 n. 2 per cent of the total. Of this ele- 

 ment, four-fifths were born in Spain and 

 less than 3 per cent in the United States ; 

 Chinese and Africans were more numer- 

 ous than United States people. The slave 

 trade was officially abolished early in the 

 present century, but that it continued as 

 a contraband traffic until comparatively 

 recent years is shown by the fact that 

 nearly 8,000 negroes on the island re- 

 ported themselves as having been born 

 in Africa. 



Among the people born in Cuba the 

 sexes were very nearly equally divided, 

 while among the foreign-born more than 

 four-fifths were males. 



the; colored population is not hold- 

 ing ITS OWN 



As to color, about seven-tenths of the 

 population were white, the remaining 

 three-tenths being colored, including ne- 

 groes, mixed, and a few thousand Chi- 

 nese. As in the United States, the 

 colored element is increasing less rapidly 

 than is the white population, owing here 

 both to a smaller birth rate and a larger 

 death rate. The native whites formed 

 nearly three-fifths of the entire popula- 

 tion. 



Some of the features of the distribu- 

 tion by age are of interest. The propor- 

 tion of young children, as has already 

 been noted, was very large, those under 

 1 year forming 3.2 per cent of the whole 

 population, while in the United States 

 they formed only 2.5 per cent. Those 

 under 5 years of age were 16.8 per cent, 

 contrasting with 9.5 per cent in the 

 United States. On the other hand, the 

 proportion of people of advanced age 

 was small ; those over 50 years of age 

 formed only 10 per cent, while in the 

 United States the percentage was 13.2 

 per cent. 



The children of school age, 5 to 17 

 years, present a curious phenomenon, the 

 number being actually 11,500 less in this 

 census than in that of 1899. The war 

 and the accompanying reconcentration 

 caused the death of vast numbers of 

 young children, most of whom were 

 under the school age. The survivors are 

 now 8 years older and constitute a 

 large proportion of the school-age class, 

 while the numerous children born since 

 the war have hardly reached the school 

 age. At the recent census the children 

 of school age formed only 26.4 per cent 

 of the population, while the same class 

 in 1899 was not less than 35.1 per cent, 

 and in the United States was 33.8 per 

 cent. 



Among the aged there is apparently 

 the same tendency to exaggerate ages as 

 exists in this country and elsewhere, and 

 this tendency is of course more marked 

 among the ignorant classes. In Cuba 

 0.2 per cent of the whites reported them- 

 selves as 80 years of age or more, while 

 of the colored not less than 1.2 per cent 

 were so reported. Of the white popula- 

 tion who reported themselves to be over 

 100 years, the number was too small to 

 be expressed in a percentage, but of the 

 colored 0.1 per cent reported themselves 

 as centenarians. 



The average age of the Cuban was 

 23.4 years, which is strongly contrasted 

 with that of the United States — 26.3 

 years — a difference of almost 3 years in 

 average age. The males of voting age 

 formed 27 per cent of the population, or 

 very nearly that of the United States, 

 which is 28 per cent. The native-born 

 males of voting age, who practically con- 

 stitute the voting strength of the people, 

 formed 21 per cent of the population. 



MARRIAGES IN CUBA 



The conjugal condition of the Cubans 

 presents some points of interest. There 

 are practically no divorced persons, since 

 the Roman Catholic Church does not 

 tolerate that condition. Thefe is a class, 

 however, which is not recognized in this 

 country, to which the name of "consen- 

 sual union" or "consensual marriage" 



