Parishes of Saint Kitts-Nevis

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Updates: 

"Ershiyi (21) Shiji Shijie Diming Lu", a three-volume world gazetteer, gives the areas of the fourteen parishes. I have added the data to the table below.

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter I-8, published on 2007-04-17, has new ISO parish codes for Saint Kitts-Nevis. They are shown in the table below. They replace codes from a draft version, ISO/DIS 2166-2, which had not been supported.

I found a source  for the most recent censuses of Saint Kitts-Nevis: The Statistics Division of the Planning Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Development & Planning of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

International standard ISO 3166-2 was published on December 15, 1998. It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard). For Saint Kitts-Nevis, the draft standard showed two states and fourteen parishes with their codes. The final standard mentions the same number and type of divisions, but declines to specify names or codes. It says that these divisions are "not relevant".

Country overview: 

At the beginning of the 20th century, Saint Kitts-Nevis was part of the Leeward Islands, a British colony which consisted of five presidencies. On 1956-06-30, each presidency became a separate colony. Saint Kitts became part of the colony of Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla. Anguilla seceded unilaterally in 1967. Saint Kitts-Nevis became fully independent on 1983-09-19. The names Saint Kitts and Saint Christopher are used interchangeably.

Other names of country: 

1. Danish: Saint Kitts og Nevis, Forbundsstaten Saint Christopher og Nevis
2. Dutch: Sint Christopher en Nevis, Saint Kitts en Nevis, Federatie Saint Kitts en Nevis (formal)
3. English: Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis (formal), Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Christopher and Nevis (variant)
4. Finnish: Saint Kitts ja Nevis
5. French: Saint-Christophe-et-Niévès m, Saint-Kitts-et-Nevis
6. German: Sankt Kitts und Nevis n
7. Icelandic: Sankti Kristófer og Nevis
8. Italian: Saint Kitts e Nevis
9. Norwegian: Saint Christopher og Nevis, Saint Kitts og Nevis, Føderasjonen Saint Christopher og Nevis (formal)
10. Portuguese: São Cristóvão-Neves, São Cristóvão e Nevis, São Kitts e Nevis (Brazil), Federação f de São Cristóvão e Nevis (formal)
11. Spanish: Saint Kitts y Nevis, San Cristóbal y Nieves, San Cristóbal-Nevis, Federación f de San Cristóbal y Nevis (formal)
12. Swedish: Saint Christopher och Nevis

Origin of name: 

Saint Kitts named by Christopher Columbus in 1493 after his patron saint, Saint Christopher (3rd cent.); Kitts is a diminutive of Christopher. Nevis originally named Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Our Lady of the Snows) by the Spanish, as the clouds formed at the mountain top resembled snow.

Primary subdivisions: 

Saint Kitts-Nevis is divided into fourteen parishes.

Further subdivisions:

ISO 3166-2 calls the two main islands "states", and assigns them one-letter codes. The states are Saint Kitts (code K, chief town Basseterre) and Nevis (N, Charlestown).

Territorial extent: 

Includes tiny Booby Island between the two main islands.

Change history: 

1967-06-16: Anguilla seceded unilaterally from Saint Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla.

Population history: