Saint Kitts and Nevis

Education and Childcare

Educational expenditures comprise over 9 percent of the national budget, one of the highest percentages in the world. Education is provided through the tertiary level, and the literacy rate is close to 100 percent. Labor-force participation for both women and men is over 80 percent, although men are more than twice as likely to be employers (as opposed to employees). About half of households are headed by single women. Women held no seats in the unicameral National Assembly as of 2007, although in recent years they have held as many as 13 percent of the seats.

Saint Kitts and Nevis has a high standard of maternal care and childcare, as reflected in near-universal prenatal care and births assisted by skilled personnel and high rates of childhood vaccination. The birth rate is 17.67 per 1,000 population, and infant mortality is 13.94 deaths per 1,000 live births. Abortion is legal only to save the women's life or preserve her mental or physical health, or if the pregnancy was a result of rape. Family-planning services are available at healthcare centers, and over half of women in Saint Kitts report using contraception. However, teenage pregnancy remains a concern, and in 2001-05, the teenage motherhood rate was 19.1 percent. Human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is also a concern, and women are about 60 percent more likely than men to be infected, with infection rates highest in the 25 to 44 age group.