The twin island federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis is 261 square kilometers (100 square miles) in area and is located in the northeastern Caribbean chain of the Leeward Islands. A two-mile-wide channel separates the two islands, and the capital city of Basseterre is located on Saint Kitts. The population, estimated at 46,700 in 2002, has a life expectancy of 72 years and a 98 percent literacy rate. The site of the earliest British colonial settlement in the Caribbean, the islands gained their independence in 1983.

Sugar plantations traditionally dominated Saint Kitts, whereas Nevis was shaped by small farms and trading. Tourism, remittances, and assembly manufacturing are the mainstays of the economy. The 2001 World Bank estimate of gross national income per capita was $10,190, well above the Latin America and Caribbean average, and qualified Saint Kitts as an upper-middle-income country. The currency is tied to the U.S. dollar and...