Castro's Reign by the Numbers

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In the nearly half-century that Fidel Castro has been in power, he brought socialism and statewide health care to Cuba, but lost tens of thousands of Cubans to Florida's sandy shores and took even more political prisoners. He has survived assassination attempts, a CIA invasion at the Bay of Pigs and a nuclear standoff. But ultimately he could not survive the harsh realities of his fragile health. He announced on Tuesday that he would not accept a nomination to serve another five-year term as president. A look at the vital stats of the reign of the world's longest ruling dictator:

81
Castro's age (born on Aug. 13, 1926)

32
Castro's age when he overthrew the right-wing dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista in 1959; Castro was sworn in as prime minister of Cuba that year

49
Number of years Castro ruled

10
Number of U.S. Presidents who have served since Castro has held power, beginning with Dwight Eisenhower

1985
Year Castro reportedly quit smoking Cohiba cigars

1995
Year Castro visited China for the first time

11,394,043
Number of people in Cuba (the entire population) supposedly covered by the country's universal health insurance

5,000
Number of "medical tourists" who travel to Cuba every year for health care, ranging from cosmetic surgery to treatments for Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis and drug addiction

$20 million
Estimated amount that medical tourism brings to Cuba annually

80,000
Number of political prisoners reportedly held in Cuban jails between 1959 and 1978

3,238
Number of political prisoners being held at the end of 1978. About 425 others were being held for war crimes, mostly from the Batista era, and some 600 more for trying to leave Cuba illegally.

234
Number of political prisoners in Cuba at the end of 2007; the country still has the highest number of detained journalists per capita in the world

125,000
Number of refugees who fled Cuba for the U.S. in the Mariel Boatlift of 1980

522
Number of Cuban refugees intercepted at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard in September 1993, the largest number of refugees in one month since the Mariel lift