However, this large mass of girls and boys who live the second decade of their life - adolescents are considered between 10 and 19 years old - is not homogeneous. 90% of this total live in low- and middle-income countries, and in particular in areas where armed conflicts are located, 125 million adolescents live there.

Even though this large generation is also “the most educated and urbanized,” according to Unicef, one out of four of the poorest adolescents in the world has never gone to school, and more than 200 million of those of secondary school age don’t go to school, the same source indicates.

Among the distinctive features of this generation appears, unfortunately, that they are the only age group where AIDS-related deaths do not decrease.

Unquestionably, adolescence is a decisive period in the formation of the future adult, a time of experimentation and discovery, but their possibilities for a good “takeoff” depend, among other things, on the environments in which they develop, their relationships and the services they can access.

Adolescents in Cuba

At the end of last year, the population of Cuba was 10 550 968 inhabitants.

This was reported by Juan Carlos Alfonso Fraga, deputy head of the National Office of Statistics and Information, to the deputies last July, specifying that this total was 10.1% lower than that existing in 2020 and in this decrease, considering the large age groups (0-14, 15-59 and 60 years and older), the greatest population losses are recorded in the ages 15-59 years, falling by more than 800,000 people.

A new Population Census – the last one dates from 2012 – will allow the current number of adolescents to be updated with more concrete data, in a population that’s noticeably aging and with a tendency to decrease.

However, the efforts made by the country for its adolescents and children are precisely known, and this was recognized in the UNICEF Cuba 2023 Annual Report, which highlights that “The Cuban State, a signatory to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) since 1991, has always shown a strong political will to guarantee the adequate development and well-being of children and adolescents.”

In recognizing the difficulties faced by the Island during the year, the report recognizes that “there has always been an explicit commitment by the Government and its institutions to maintain the achievements made in the protection of children and adolescents. An expression of this is the approval, in July 2023, of a new Comprehensive Care Policy for Children, Adolescents and Youth, along with its Action Plan 2023-2030.”