Young Cubans weigh staying as Cuba’s migration wave empties island

More than 1 million people have left Cuba since mid-2021. Four young Cuban artists are making a choice that has become rarer on the island: stay in Havana. Staying means shrinking audiences and thinner incomes.

A January 2025 analysis pulled together official and independent estimates. A July 2024 government presentation said the island’s effective population had fallen 10.1% from December 2020 to July 2024, while demographer Juan Carlos Albizu-Campos estimated that only 8.62 million people actually reside in Cuba, implying an 18% drop between 2022 and 2023. A postponed 2024 census has left researchers dependent on data from receiving countries and modeling to track the exodus.

The current migration surge is called the Walking Generation, a reference to the long overland route many Cubans have taken through South and Central America toward the U.S. southwest border. CEDA estimates that 514,255 Cubans trekked by foot to that border between fiscal 2022 and fiscal 2024.

Younger musicians in Havana are filling a void left by established performers who emigrated or remained abroad as the island has sunk deeper into one of its most severe economic crises in decades. On August 14, 2024, PEN International and Artists at Risk Connection announced a second Cuban Migrant Artists Resilience Fellowship cohort: 10 artists chosen from applicants based in 17 countries, with 75% of applicants having left Cuba in the previous three years. The program offers a $7,000 grant over six months, along with virtual training and professional development.

Cuba's departures run from the post-Revolution exodus and the Freedom Flights of 1965 to 1973 to the Mariel boatlift in 1980 and the Balsero Crisis of 1994. Today's wave is unfolding alongside repression after the 2021 protests, a grinding economic collapse and an aging population.