First settled by the British in 1623, the islands became an associated state with full internal autonomy in 1967. The island of Anguilla rebelled and was allowed to secede in 1971. Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in 1983. In 1998, a vote in Nevis on a referendum to separate from Saint Kitts fell short of the two-thirds majority needed. Nevis continues in its efforts to try and separate from Saint Kitts.

Caribbean, islands in the Caribbean Sea, about one-third of the way from Puerto Rico to Trinidad and Tobago
17 20 N, 62 45 W
Central America and the Caribbean
total: 261 sq km (Saint Kitts 168 sq km; Nevis 93 sq km) ; land: 261 sq km ; water: 0 sq km
1.5 times the size of Washington, DC
0 km
135 km
territorial sea: 12 nm ; contiguous zone: 24 nm ; exclusive economic zone: 200 nm ; continental shelf: 200 nm or to the edge of the continental margin
tropical, tempered by constant sea breezes; little seasonal temperature variation; rainy season (May to November)
volcanic with mountainous interiors
lowest point: Caribbean Sea 0 m ; highest point: Mount Liamuiga 1,156 m
arable land
arable land: 19.44% ; permanent crops: 2.78% ; other: 77.78% (2005)
NA
0.02 cu km (2000)

hurricanes (July to October)
NA
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered Species, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Marine Dumping, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Whaling ; signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
with coastlines in the shape of a baseball bat and ball, the two volcanic islands are separated by a three-km-wide channel called The Narrows; on the southern tip of long, baseball bat-shaped Saint Kitts lies the Great Salt Pond; Nevis Peak sits in the center of its almost circular namesake island and its ball shape complements that of its sister island
39,349 (July 2007 est.)
0-14 years: 27.2% (male 5,472/female 5,218) ; 15-64 years: 64.9% (male 12,779/female 12,752) ; 65 years and over: 7.9% (male 1,300/female 1,828) (2007 est.)
total: 28.1 years ; male: 27.4 years ; female: 28.8 years (2007 est.)
0.623% (2007 est.)
17.89 births/1,000 population (2007 est.)
8.16 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.)
-3.51 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.)
at birth: 1.07 male(s)/female ; under 15 years: 1.049 male(s)/female ; 15-64 years: 1.002 male(s)/female ; 65 years and over: 0.711 male(s)/female ; total population: 0.988 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
total: 13.74 deaths/1,000 live births ; male: 15.44 deaths/1,000 live births ; female: 11.93 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
total population: 72.66 years ; male: 69.81 years ; female: 75.69 years (2007 est.)
2.29 children born/woman (2007 est.)
NA
NA
NA
noun: Kittitian(s), Nevisian(s) ; adjective: Kittitian, Nevisian
predominantly black; some British, Portuguese, and Lebanese
Anglican, other Protestant, Roman Catholic
English
definition: age 15 and over has ever attended school ; total population: 97.8% ; male: NA% ; female: NA% (2003 est.)


conventional long form: Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis ; conventional short form: Saint Kitts and Nevis ; former: Federation of Saint Christopher and Nevis
parliamentary democracy
name: Basseterre ; geographic coordinates: 17 18 N, 62 43 W ; time difference: UTC-4 (1 hour ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
14 parishes; Christ Church Nichola Town, Saint Anne Sandy Point, Saint George Basseterre, Saint George Gingerland, Saint James Windward, Saint John Capesterre, Saint John Figtree, Saint Mary Cayon, Saint Paul Capesterre, Saint Paul Charlestown, Saint Peter Basseterre, Saint Thomas Lowland, Saint Thomas Middle Island, Trinity Palmetto Point

19 September 1983 (from UK)
Independence Day, 19 September (1983)
19 September 1983
based on English common law
18 years of age; universal
chief of state: Queen ELIZABETH II (since 6 February 1952); represented by Governor General Cuthbert Montraville SEBASTIAN (since 1 January 1996) ; head of government: Prime Minister Dr. Denzil DOUGLAS (since 6 July 1995); Deputy Prime Minister Sam CONDOR (since 6 July 1995) ; cabinet: Cabinet appointed by the governor general in consultation with the prime minister ; elections: none; the monarch is hereditary; the governor general is appointed by the monarch; following legislative elections, the leader of the majority party or leader of a majority coalition is usually appointed prime minister by the governor general; deputy prime minister appointed by the governor general
unicameral National Assembly (14 seats, 3 appointed and 11 popularly elected from single-member constituencies; members serve five-year terms) ; elections: last held 25 October 2004 (next to be held by 2009) ; election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - SKNLP 7, CCM 2, NRP 1, PAM 1
Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court (based on Saint Lucia; one judge of the Supreme Court resides in Saint Kitts and Nevis)
Concerned Citizens Movement or CCM [Vance AMORY]; Nevis Reformation Party or NRP [Joseph PARRY]; People's Action Movement or PAM [Lindsay GRANT]; Saint Kitts and Nevis Labor Party or SKNLP [Dr. Denzil DOUGLAS]
NA
ACP, C, Caricom, CDB, FAO, G-77, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, ITU, MIGA, NAM, OAS, OECS, OPANAL, OPCW, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WTO
divided diagonally from the lower hoist side by a broad black band bearing two white, five-pointed stars; the black band is edged in yellow; the upper triangle is green, the lower triangle is red
chief of mission: Ambassador Dr. Izben Cordinal WILLIAMS ; chancery: 3216 New Mexico Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016 ; telephone: [1] (202) 686-2636 ; FAX: [1] (202) 686-5740 ; consulate(s) general: New York
the US does not have an embassy in Saint Kitts and Nevis; the US Ambassador to Barbados is accredited to Saint Kitts and Nevis





Sugar was the traditional mainstay of the Saint Kitts economy until the 1970s. Following the 2005 harvest, the government closed the sugar industry after decades of losses of 3-4% of GDP annually. To compensate for employment losses, the government has embarked on a program to diversify the agricultural sector and to stimulate other sectors of the economy. Activities such as tourism, export-oriented manufacturing, and offshore banking have assumed larger roles in the economy and have contributed to the recent robust growth. Tourism revenues are now the chief source of the islands' foreign exchange; about 341,800 tourists visited Nevis in 2005. The current government is constrained by a high debt burden, public debt reached 190% of GDP by the end of 2005, largely attributable to public enterprise losses.
$726 million (2006 est.)
$453 million (2005)
6% (2007 est.)
$8,200 (2005 est.)
agriculture: 3.5% ; industry: 25.8% ; services: 70.7% (2001)
18,170 (June 1995)

4.5% (1997)
NA%
lowest 10%: NA% ; highest 10%: NA%

8.7% (2005 est.)

revenues: $89.7 million ; expenditures: $128.2 million (2003 est.)

sugarcane, rice, yams, vegetables, bananas; fish
tourism, cotton, salt, copra, clothing, footwear, beverages
NA%
125 million kWh (2005)
fossil fuel: 100% ; hydro: 0% ; nuclear: 0% ; other: 0% (2001)
116.3 million kWh (2005)
0 kWh (2005)
0 kWh (2005)
0 bbl/day (2005 est.)
900 bbl/day (2005 est.)
0 bbl/day (2004)
871.6 bbl/day (2004)
0 bbl (1 January 2006 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
0 cu m (2005 est.)
0 cu m (2005)
0 cu m (1 January 2006 est.)

$84 million (2006)
machinery, food, electronics, beverages, tobacco
US 61.9%, Canada 9.4%, Netherlands 6.6%, Azerbaijan 5% (2006)
$383 million (2006)
US 49.5%, Trinidad and Tobago 13.3%, UK 4.5% (2006)


$314 million (2004)



East Caribbean dollar (XCD)
XCD
East Caribbean dollars per US dollar - 2.7 (2007), 2.7 (2006), 2.7 (2005), 2.7 (2004), 2.7 (2003)
calendar year
$3.52 million (2005)
25,000 (2004)
10,000 (2004)
general assessment: good inter-island and international connections ; domestic: inter-island links via Eastern Caribbean Fiber Optic cable; construction of enhanced wireless infrastructure launched in November 2004 ; international: country code - 1-869; with the East Caribbean Fiber Optic System (ECFS) and Southern Caribbean fiber optic system (SCF) submarine cables providing connectivity, international calls are carried either by submarine cable or Intelsat
AM 3, FM 3, shortwave 0 (2003)
28,000 (1997)
1 (plus 3 repeaters) (2003)
10,000 (1997)
.kn
45 (2007)
16 (2000)
10,000 (2002)

2 (2007)
total: 2 ; 1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 ; 914 to 1,523 m: 1 (2007)



total: 50 km ; narrow gauge: 50 km 0.762-m gauge on Saint Kitts for tourists (2006)
total: 320 km ; paved: 138 km ; unpaved: 182 km (1999 est)

total: 104 ships (1000 GRT or over) 465,056 GRT/663,511 DWT ; by type: bulk carrier 3, cargo 66, chemical tanker 8, container 1, passenger/cargo 2, petroleum tanker 15, refrigerated cargo 5, roll on/roll off 2, specialized tanker 2 ; foreign-owned: 76 (Belgium 1, Egypt 2, Estonia 1, Greece 2, India 1, Iran 1, Latvia 4, Monaco 1, Romania 1, Russia 14, Spain 1, Syria 5, Tanzania 1, Turkey 13, Ukraine 5, UAE 22, Yemen 1) (2007)
Basseterre

Saint Kitts and Nevis Defense Force (includes Coast Guard), Royal Saint Kitts and Nevis Police Force
18 years of age (est.) (2004)
males age 18-49: 9,196 ; females age 18-49: 9,236 (2005 est.)
males age 18-49: 7,119 ; females age 18-49: 7,645 (2005 est.)
males age 18-49: 357 ; females age 18-49: 347 (2005 est.)
NA

joins other Caribbean states to counter Venezuela's claim that Aves Island sustains human habitation, a criterion under UNCLOS, which permits Venezuela to extend its EEZ/continental shelf over a large portion of the eastern Caribbean Sea

transshipment point for South American drugs destined for the US and Europe; some money-laundering activity

