St Kitts and Nevis

St Kitts and Nevis

Lesser Antilles

Caribbean
77
Overall score
Strong overall
Language
English
Currency
XCD
Citizenship
~4–6 months (by investment)
Personal tax
0% (no personal income tax)
Cost of living
$1,500 / mo (single)

The original (1984) citizenship-by-investment programme: an English-speaking, zero-income-tax island where a donation or real-estate purchase buys a passport with broad visa-free travel in months.

Pros

  • Oldest, well-established CBI
  • No personal income, capital-gains or wealth tax
  • English-speaking; dual citizenship allowed

Cons

  • Small economy & job market
  • Limited universities
  • Passport visa-free access can shift with policy

Best for

Investors seeking a second passportGlobal entrepreneursTax-residence planners

Score profile

Status & mobility
Passport
78
Citizenship
100
Residence
64
Money & business
Taxes
90
Corporate tax
6
Business
58
Investment
63
Economy
66
Wealth building
59
Living, study & work
Education
84
Salary & work
Cost of living
48
Buying power
67
Quality of life
Safety
41
Healthcare
72
Infrastructure
HDI
84

Status & mobility

Passport

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any travel or visa decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Passport power
Good
78

Passport-index style mobility for the St Kitts and Nevis passport. The score above is its world reach: the share of 198 destinations reachable without a prior visa.

154 / 198
Mobility
#28
Global rank
Yes
Biometric
  • Visa-free110
  • On arrival40
  • eTA4
  • Visa required44

Passport Index style mobility data (2024–2025 estimate). Placeholder figures; verify current entry rules with each destination’s authority before travelling.

Citizenship

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any citizenship decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Citizenship accessibility
Excellent
100
Years required~4–6 months via the Citizenship by Investment programme
Dual allowedtrue
LanguageNone
ResidenceNo physical residence required for the investment route
NotesRoutes include a Sustainable Island State Contribution (from ~US$250k) or approved real estate; due diligence is mandatory.
Residence

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any residence / visa decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Openness to residents
Moderate
64
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score combines how international the population already is (migrant stock at 45%), governance quality (regulatory quality at 25%), and the curated residence-pathway signal (30%). Available indicators are reweighted; the published values are shown below.

Migrant stock17.0% of population (2024)
Regulatory quality0.48 (−2.5 to 2.5) (2024)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Main pathways
Citizenship by InvestmentDigital Nomad (Nomad Visa)Real-estate ownership
StudentLimited; small local education sector.
WorkWork permits available but the job market is small.
Self-employedEasy company formation; foreign-source income untaxed.
PermanentInvestment route grants citizenship directly, bypassing PR timelines.

Money & business

Taxes

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Tax friendliness
Excellent
90
Personal0% - no personal income tax
Corporate33% on domestic profits; foreign-source income untaxed
Capital gains0%
Dividends0% for residents
Exit taxNone
Foreign cosNo CFC regime
Personal tax

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Personal tax
Excellent
100
Personal0% - no personal income tax
FreelanceNo personal income tax on freelance earnings
Capital gains0%
Dividends0% for residents
Exit taxNone
Corporate tax

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Corporate tax
Low
6
Corporate33% on domestic profits; foreign-source income untaxed
Capital gains0%
Dividends0% for residents
Foreign cosNo CFC regime
Business
Business friendliness
Moderate
58
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score leans on the two things founders ask about most: the tax burden (headline corporate rate at 20%, broader tax friendliness at 15%, and freedom from exit-tax / CFC rules at 10%) plus the regulatory and bureaucratic environment (regulatory quality 15%, government effectiveness 15%), on top of the curated company-rules signal (25%). Available indicators are reweighted; the values are shown below.

Regulation & bureaucracy
Regulatory quality0.48 (−2.5 to 2.5) (2024)
Government effectiveness0.69 (−2.5 to 2.5) (2024)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Rules & taxes
Foreign co.Yes: full foreign ownership; IBC-friendly
Local co.Company/IBC formation is quick via agents
FreelanceNo personal income tax on freelance earnings
Corporate tax33% on domestic profits; foreign-source income untaxed
Capital gains0%
Exit taxNone
Foreign cosNo CFC regime
Investment

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any investment / tax decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Investing environment
Moderate
63
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score is mostly the investor-tax signal (capital-gains treatment, broker access, wealth tax, and ETF or other taxes on investment, 70%), lightly contextualised by equity-market depth (market cap / GDP at 18%) and credit depth (domestic credit to the private sector / GDP at 12%). Available indicators are reweighted.

Private credit64% of GDP (2024)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Capital gains0% capital-gains tax
DividendsData not available yet
ETFs & fundsData not available yet
Wealth taxNone
BrokersVia international brokers
Foreign accessData not available yet
Tax-advantagedData not available yet
Economy
Economic strength
Good
66
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score combines income level (GDP and GNI per capita, output per worker), growth momentum (real GDP growth), price stability (inflation) and labour utilisation (unemployment). Available indicators are reweighted; the sector split and industry profile below are descriptive, not scored.

Output & income
GDP$1.1B (2024)
GDP / person$23,961 (2024)
GNI / person$34,460 PPP (2024)
GDP growth0.3% / yr (2024)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Stability & labour
Inflation3.6% / yr (2023)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Sector composition
Agriculture1.3% of GDP (2024)
Industry20.9% of GDP (2024)
Services66.1% of GDP (2024)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Main industries
TourismCitizenship-by-investmentFinancial servicesLight manufacturingAgriculture
Top exports
Electronics componentsBeveragesTourism services
TypeHigh-income, tourism- and services-led
Key sectorsTourism, CBI programme revenue, Offshore finance
SummaryA small island economy reliant on tourism and one of the world's oldest citizenship-by-investment programmes.
CurrencyEast Caribbean dollar (pegged to the US dollar)
Wealth building

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any tax / investment decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Wealth accumulation
Moderate
59
How this score is calculated

How favourable St Kitts and Nevis is for building wealth: earnings and business/investment upside, tax drag, and how much a typical income keeps after living costs. Estimated from the factors below.

Salary & work
Limited
34
Business
Moderate
58
Investment
Good
66
Tax friendliness
Excellent
90
Cost of living
Moderate
48

Living, study & work

Education
Education score
Excellent
84
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score combines attainment (expected schooling at 30% and mean schooling at 25%) with participation (tertiary enrolment at 25%) and public investment (government education spending at 20%). Available indicators are reweighted; tuition and study rules remain separate profile fields below.

Attainment
Expected schooling18.4 years (2023)
Mean schooling10.8 years (2023)

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025

Participation & investment
Tertiary enrolment94% gross (2015)
Education spending3.5% of GDP (2023)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

TuitionLimited local options (some medical schools)
Public uniSmall sector; most pursue education abroad
LanguagesEnglish
Student workLimited
Salary & work
Labour-market strength
Data not available
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score combines output per worker (a proxy for wage potential at 40%), unemployment (35%) and labour-force participation (25%). Available indicators are reweighted; the curated profile fields remain below.

Tech salary (estimate)Small market; most residents earn abroad/remotely
FreelanceBest as a tax base for remote/foreign-source income
Job marketEconomy centred on tourism, finance & CBI revenue.
Cost of living
Affordability
Moderate
48

Our 0–100 affordability score is derived from the local consumer price level (World Bank, US = 100): the cheaper everyday prices are, the higher it scores. Lower price level means your money goes further here.

Price level79 (US = 100) (2023)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Rent$900–1,600 (1BR)
Monthly$1,500
CitiesBasseterre, Charlestown
Buying power
Purchasing power score
Good
67
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score estimates how far money goes for the typical person here. It combines GNI per capita at PPP (30%) and actual household consumption per person at PPP (15%) with a price-advantage term from the local price level (25%) that rewards lower prices, then adjusts for income equality via the Gini index (20%), so unequal economies don't ride a high average, plus price stability via consumer inflation (10%). Available indicators are reweighted; it is a comparison, not a personal budget estimate.

GNI / person$34,460 PPP (2024)
Price level79 (US = 100) (2023)
Inflation3.6% / yr (2023)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Quality of life

Safety
Safety & stability
Limited
41
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score combines personal safety (intentional homicide rate at 35%), institutional quality (rule of law at 25% and control of corruption at 20%), and political stability and absence of violence (20%). Available indicators are reweighted; the published values are shown below. Always check current government travel and security advice before relocating.

Personal safety
Homicide rate64.2 per 100,000 (2023)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Institutions & stability
Rule of law0.59 (−2.5 to 2.5) (2024)
Control of corruption0.35 (−2.5 to 2.5) (2024)
Political stability0.91 (−2.5 to 2.5) (2024)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Healthcare
Healthcare score
Good
72
How this score is calculated

Our 0–100 score combines health outcomes (life expectancy at 25% and under-5 mortality at 20%) with system capacity (physicians at 20% and hospital beds at 15% per 1,000 people) and health spending per capita (20%). Available indicators are reweighted; the published values are shown below.

Outcomes
Life expectancy72.3 years (2024)
Under-5 mortality15.9 per 1,000 births (2024)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

Capacity & resourcing
Physicians3.08 per 1,000 (2018)
Hospital beds3.98 per 1,000 (2023)
Health spending$1,936 PPP / person (2023)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

System & costs
SystemPublic clinics + private; serious cases often referred abroad
InsurancePrivate/international insurance recommended
Avg costInternational cover advisable for major treatment
Infrastructure
Infrastructure score
Data not available
How this score is calculated

The score combines digital access, resilience and download performance (30%), electricity access and network losses (30%), and transport infrastructure covering rail, logistics and aviation (40%). Available inputs are reweighted, but a country needs both digital and transport data to receive a score.

Digital infrastructure
Internet use76.9% (2024)
Internet resilience59 / 100 (2026)
Fixed speed72 / 100 download index (2026)
Mobile speed68 / 100 download index (2026)

Sources: World Bank World Development Indicators · Internet Society Pulse Internet Resilience Index

Utilities
Electricity access100.0% (2023)

Source: World Bank World Development Indicators

HDI
Human development score
Excellent
84
How this score is calculated

The UN Human Development Index is the geometric mean of three dimension indices (a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living), shown on a 0–100 map scale (HDI × 100). The 2023 UNDP inputs behind each dimension are listed below.

HDI0.840 (2023)

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025

Long & healthy life
Life expectancy72.1 years (2023)

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025

Knowledge
Expected schooling18.4 years (2023)
Mean schooling10.8 years (2023)

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025

Standard of living
GNI / person$29,105 PPP (2023)

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2025

Resources

Official references and quick links for St Kitts and Nevis. Always confirm against the primary source before acting.

Official references
Quick links

Rules change often and depend on your situation. Confirm any immigration, tax or legal decision with a qualified professional, or do your own research, before acting.

Mock data for demonstration only. Not legal or tax advice.