A poll conducted by a United States-funded agency has revealed that the majority of Cubans have not benefited from economic reforms initiated by the Raul Castro-led administration.

The poll conducted in Cuba by the International Republican Institute (IRI), a non-governmental international affairs organisation funded by the US government, has revealed that five in six Cubans have not benefited from President Raúl Castro’s economic reforms.

The poll showed that for three out of every four Cuban families, the economic situation is either the same or worse than a year ago.

It also shows growing dissatisfaction among huge majorities of younger Cubans and increasing numbers of those favouring capitalism and democracy.

The IRI says its figures corroborated a complaint from analysts that Castro’s reforms have been too few and too slow to fix the sluggish economy.