According to statistics, 90% of the news, both printed, online or television is negative. Statistics also say that this happens because that’s what we pay attention to. We have a negativity bias, which is the tendency to give far more attention to negative details than positive ones. We are trying to break this pattern and talk more about what’s sunny and optimistic in Cuba, so here are some of the major Cuban achievements in the past years:

    1. The literacy rate in the country is 99 percent. Cuba offers free education from elementary school through university.
    2. Cuba was the first country to sign and the second to ratify the Discrimination against Women convention. Nearly half of the parliamentary seats in the Cuban National Assembly are occupied by women.
    3. Cuban students have the best academic results in Latin America in all subjects.

    1. Cuba devotes about 14% of its budget to education.
    2. All careers are universal and free for all Cubans.
    3. Life expectancy is about 80 years.
    4. The infant mortality rate is 4.6 per thousand (less than any country in the American continent, including Canada and the United States)
    5. It is the only country in Latin America and the Third World that has eradicated child malnutrition.

  1. It is the first country in the world to have eliminated mother-to-child transmission of the AIDS virus.
What do you think? What’s the most important Cuban achievement over the years?