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Updates: 

ISO 3166-2 Newsletter number II-1, dated 2010-02-03, has changes to the listing for Saint Kitts-Nevis, but nothing that affects data reported on this site. The only change is adding the prefix KN- explicitly to both of the state codes.

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.

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 It superseded ISO/DIS 3166-2 (draft international standard).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: 

Short name	SAINT KITTS-NEVIS
ISO code	KN
FIPS code	SC
Language	English (en)
Time zone	-4
Capital	Basseterre

 

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. Russian: Федерация Сент-Китс и Невис (formal)
12. Spanish: Saint Kitts y Nevis, San Cristóbal y Nieves, San Cristóbal-Nevis, Federación f de San Cristóbal y Nevis (formal)
13. Swedish: Saint Christopher och Nevis
14. Turkish: Saint Kitts ve 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.

Parish	HASC	ISO	FIPS	Population	Area(km.²)	Area(mi.²)	St	Capital
Christ Church Nichola Town	KN.CC	01	SC01	2,061	19	7	K	Mansion
Saint Anne Sandy Point	KN.AS	02	SC02	3,167	13	5	K	Sandy Point
Saint George Basseterre	KN.GB	03	SC03	13,251	29	11	K	Basseterre
Saint George Gingerland	KN.GG	04	SC04	2,564	19	7	N	Gingerland
Saint James Windward	KN.JW	05	SC05	1,806	31	12	N	Newcastle
Saint John Capisterre	KN.JC	06	SC06	3,248	25	10	K	Sadlers
Saint John Figtree	KN.JF	07	SC07	2,901	21	8	N	Fig Tree
Saint Mary Cayon	KN.MC	08	SC08	3,423	15	6	K	Cayon
Saint Paul Capisterre	KN.PP	09	SC09	2,453	14	5	K	Saint Paul's
Saint Paul Charlestown	KN.PL	10	SC10	1,790	4	1	N	Charlestown
Saint Peter Basseterre	KN.PB	11	SC11	3,541	21	8	K	Monkey Hill Village
Saint Thomas Lowland	KN.TL	12	SC12	2,047	18	7	N	Cotton Ground
Saint Thomas Middle Island	KN.TM	13	SC13	2,395	24	9	K	Middle Island
Trinity Palmetto Point	KN.TP	15	SC15	1,678	15	6	K	Boyd's
14 parishes				46,325	267	103
HASC: Hierarchical administrative subdivision codes. ISO: Codes from ISO 3166-2. FIPS: Codes from FIPS PUB 10-4. Population: 2001-05-12 census Area: Source [2]. St: ISO 3166-2 code for the "state" containing the parish. Capital: Not official. This column shows a chief town in each parish.

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). The legislature of the entire federation is the National Assembly; Nevis has partial autonomy, under the Nevis Island Assembly.

Territorial extent: 

Includes tiny Booby Island between the two main islands.

The UN LOCODE page  for Saint Kitts and Nevis lists locations in the country, some of them with their latitudes and longitudes, some with their ISO 3166-2 codes for their subdivisions. This information can be put together to approximate the territorial extent of subdivisions.

Change history: 

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

Other names of subdivisions: 

Local sources agree that "Capisterre" is the correct spelling, but in 2001 the CIA World Factbook started using the spelling "Capesterre". That spelling has been spreading across the Internet, because everyone copies from the Factbook. Some say that the 18th century spelling was "Capesterre". Wikipedia says the name of a village in Saint Paul Capisterre parish, when written in full, is Saint Paul Capesterre; it's usually shortened to Saint Paul's.

Population history:

Parish	1946-04-09	1970-04-07	1980-05-12	1991-05-12	2001-05-14
Christ Church Nichola Town	1,999	2,091	1,989	1,664	2,061
Saint Anne Sandy Point	2,913	3,300	3,145	3,077	3,167
Saint George Basseterre	12,827	13,850	14,283	12,605	13,251
Saint George Gingerland	3,355	2,778	2,295	2,083	2,564
Saint James Windward	2,308	2,122	1,691	1,491	1,806
Saint John Capisterre	3,240	3,401	3,163	2,936	3,248
Saint John Figtree	2,373	2,622	2,224	2,191	2,901
Saint Mary Cayon	2,326	3,381	3,308	3,249	3,423
Saint Paul Capisterre	1,761	2,071	2,080	2,130	2,453
Saint Paul Charlestown	1,806	1,469	1,700	1,411	1,790
Saint Peter Basseterre	1,698	2,389	2,497	2,656	3,541
Saint Thomas Lowland	1,546	2,149	1,975	1,613	2,047
Saint Thomas Middle Island	2,177	2,195	2,255	2,257	2,395
Trinity Palmetto Point	877	1,066	1,161	1,250	1,678
Totals	41,206	44,884	43,766	40,613	46,325

Sources: 

1. [1] Demographic Yearbook , 7th Ed. Statistical Office of the United Nations, New York, 1955 (retrieved 2011-08-20).
2. [2] "Ershiyi (21) Shiji Shijie Diming Lu". Beijing, 2001.
3. [3] Saint Kitts and Nevis: Population by Sex and Parish. Caribbean Community Secretariat, citing the Statistics Division of the Planning Unit of the Ministry of Finance, Development & Planning of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. Retrieved 2003-11-12 from http://www.caricom.org/CARIStats/Files/Publications/kitspub/statsreview/Review2002cd/Table2.9.htm (dead link).
4. [4] CARICOM Capacity Development Programme (CCDP): 2000 Round of Population and Housing Census Sub-project: National Census Report: St. Kitts and Nevis. CARICOM Secretariat, 2009. Contained 1991 and 2001 census data.
5. [5] Fifth United Nations Conference on the Standardization of Geographical Names. Vol. II. New York: United Nations, 1991.
6. [6] 1970 census from 1979 Demographic Yearbook , 31st Ed. Statistical Office, United Nations, New York, 1980 (retrieved 2011-12-28).