Associated Press

HAVANA — The scene at the park in Havana’s Vedado district is typical enough, with a handful of boys kicking a soccer ball through trees while dozens of gray-haired seniors bend and stretch to the urgings of a government-employed trainer.

So few children, so many elderly. It’s a central dilemma for a nation whose population is the oldest in Latin America, and getting older.

The labor force soon will be shrinking as health costs soar, just when President Raul Castro’s government is struggling to implement reforms that aim to resuscitate an economy long on life support.