KEY FACTS

Joined Commonwealth: 1983
Population: 54,000 (2012)
GDP p.c. growth: 1.9% p.a. 1990–2012
UN HDI 2012: world ranking 72
Official language: English
Time: GMT minus 4hr
Currency: Eastern Caribbean dollar (EC$)

Geography

Area: 261.6 sq km
Coastline: 135 km
Capital: Basseterre

The two-island country of St Kitts and Nevis lies in the northern part of the Leeward Islands group of the Lesser Antilles in the Eastern Caribbean. The two islands are separated by a channel some 3 km in width.

Main towns:

Basseterre (capital, pop. 13,400 in 2010), St Paul’s (1,300), Sadlers (1,000), Middle Island (900), Tabernacle (840), Mansion (830), Cayon (810) and Sandy Point (790) on St Kitts; Charlestown (2,200) on Nevis.

Society

KEY FACTS 2012

Population per sq km: 205
Life expectancy: 75 years (est.)
Net primary enrolment: 81%

Population: 

54,000 (2012); some 12,000 on Nevis; 32 per cent of people live in urban areas; growth 1.2 per cent p.a. 1990–2012; birth rate 14 per 1,000 people (est. 26 in 1970); life expectancy 75 years (est.) The population is mainly of mixed African and European descent, with a UK-descended minority.

Language: 

English is the official language; an English-based Creole is widely spoken.

Education:

There are 12 years of compulsory education starting at the age of five, offered by state, private and church schools. Primary school comprises seven years and secondary five, with cycles of three and two years. Some 74 per cent of pupils complete primary school (2009). The school year starts in September. St Kitts and Nevis participates in the regional University of the West Indies, which has its main campuses in Barbados, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago. The female–male ratio for gross enrollment in tertiary education is 2.10:1 (2008).