Saint Kitts and Nevis

SAINT KITTS AND NEVIS is a small state in the eastern Caribbean composed of two islands in the Antilles chain. Europeans, primarily the British, colonized the islands shortly after Christopher Columbus mapped their location. Sugar was adopted as the primary industry for the islands. In 1882, Saint Kitts and Nevis was formally joined as a state with Anguilla and independence followed in 1967. However, complaints from Anguilla of domination by Saint Kitts led to the removal of Anguilla and, in 1983, Saint Kitts and Nevis achieved independence in its current form.

The country has suffered from its colonial status, in which monocropping of sugar was introduced. Fluctuating commodity prices, declining output, and high production prices have all hampered the industry, while a succession of five major hurricanes had devastating impacts on the islands. It has been estimated that, while overall Saint Kitts and Nevis maintains an annual per capita Gross National Income exceeding $6,500, nevertheless some 30 percent of its people face poverty and 11 percent extreme poverty, in which food insecurity is a very real threat. Overcoming overreliance on a single commodity requires extensive diversification in the economy and the creation of higher value-added outputs from the sugar crop. Tourism is one sector that has witnessed growth, albeit from a very modest base, while the agricultural sector possesses the comparative advantages necessary to produce alternative goods, but not the human or financial capital necessary to bring about such a change. Poverty rates are strongly correlated with location and with occupation. Approximately 60 percent of the poor are under 25, 60 percent are women, and 50 percent have no educational certification. The total population of the country just exceeds 40,000 and so the absolute number of the poor amounts to around 12,000. The infant mortality rate in 2003 was 19 per 1,000 live births and the under 5 mortality rate was 22 per 1,000 children. The country nevertheless ranks within the top 50 of developed countries according to United Nations measurements of development, indicating a degree of inequality.

Saint Kitts and Nevis suffers from many of the problems facing very small island countries—it is the smallest in the Caribbean. These include heightened vulnerability to external shocks, lack of managerial and technical skills, low levels of spare capacity in health and education sectors, small domestic markets, and reliance upon important imported goods and services, [Page 944]leading to balance-of-trade difficulties. Plans to develop the economy through offshore banking havens and more extensive tourism development may be successful for a small number of people but, without strong governmental institutions able effectively to redistribute such earnings, only a small number of people would benefit, many of whom would not be local people.

Human Development Index Rank: 49

Human Poverty Index Rank: Not included.