ate: 7.39 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 76.41 years

male: 74.02 years

female: 78.94 years (2001 est.)

Total fertility rate: 1.6 children born/woman (2001 est.)

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 0.03% (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 1,950 (1999 est.)

HIV/AIDS - deaths: 120 (1999 est.)

Nationality: noun: Cuban(s)

adjective: Cuban

Ethnic groups: mulatto 51%, white 37%, black 11%, Chinese 1%

Religions: nominally 85% Roman Catholic prior to CASTRO assuming
power; Protestants, Jehovah's Witnesses, Jews, and Santeria are also
represented

Languages: Spanish

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write

total population: 95.7%

male: 96.2%

female: 95.3% (1995 est.)

People - note: illicit migration is a continuing problem; Cubans
attempt to depart the island and enter the US using homemade rafts,
alien smugglers, direct flights, or falsified visas; some 3,000
Cubans took to the Straits of Florida in 2000; the US Coast Guard
interdicted about 35% of these migrants; Cubans also use
non-maritime routes to enter the US; some 2,400 Cubans arrived
overland via the southwest border and direct flights to Miami

Cuba Government

Country name: conventional long form: Republic of Cuba

conventional short form: Cuba

local long form: Republica de Cuba

local short form: Cuba

Government type: Communist state

Capital: Havana

Administrative divisions: 14 provinces (provincias, singular -
provincia) and 1 special municipality* (municipio especial);
Camaguey, Ciego de Avila, Cienfuegos, Ciudad de La Habana, Granma,
Guantanamo, Holguin, Isla de la Juventud*, La Habana, Las Tunas,
Matanzas, Pinar del Rio, Sancti Spiritus, Santiago de Cuba, Villa
Clara

Independence: 20 May 1902 (from US)

National holiday: Independence Day, 10 October (1868); note - 10
October 1868 is the date of independence from Spain, 20 May 1902 is
the date of independence from US administration

Constitution: 24 February 1976, amended July 1992

Legal system: based on Spanish and American law, with large elements
of Communist legal theory; has not accepted compulsory ICJ
jurisdiction

Suffrage: 16 years of age; universal

Executive branch: chief of state: President of the Council of State
and President of the Council of Ministers Fidel CASTRO Ruz (prime
minister from February 1959 until 24 February 1976 when offic