This page provides charts, tables and commentary using the economic statistics of St Helena.
- Gross Domestic Product, total and per capita
- Gross Value Added by Sector
- The Consumer Price Index by category of expenditure
- Annual price inflation rates, and by category of expenditure
- Wages from full-time employement
- Imports of goods
- Visitor expenditure
For detailed data files (in Excel format) and other reports, please click here.
Gross Domestic Product, total and per capita
Gross Domestic Product (GDP) measures the total value of all the goods and services produced on the island during a year. For 2023/24, it was estimated to be £39.4 million and the annual growth rate was estimated to be -3.7%, a decrease in GDP in real terms (i.e. when price inflation is accounted for). GDP per capita was estimated to be £9,210 per person, or $11,570, and this was a decrease in real terms of -2.2%.
Countries with similar GDP per capita in 2023 were Montenegro ($12,080), Serbia ($12,280), and the Maldives ($12,530), which were all slightly higher, and Malaysia ($11,380), Grenada ($11,310), and Mauritius ($11,180), all of which were slightly lower (source: World Bank).
Gross Value Added by Sector
Measured using value added, Public Administration is the largest industrial sector, with Finance, Insurance, Information and Communication services, and Human Health and Social Work Activities the second and third largest industrial sectors respectively.
The Consumer Price Index
St Helena measures price inflation by collecting the prices of a fixed basket of goods and services each quarter. Categories that have increased faster than the average over the last five years include Transport and Household Energy. Communications has decreased in price, largely because of the change to the tariff for accessing the internet introduced in October 2023.
Inflation
The latest annual price inflation rate in Q2 2025 is 6.3%, which means that, on average, consumer prices went up by 6.3% between Q2 2024 and Q2 2025.
There are variations in the rate for different categories of goods and services. For instance, the annual price change of Communications was 18.4%, largely due to changes in tarriffs in October 2023 and July 2024.
Wages
Adjusted for inflation, median wage levels on St Helena rose substantially during construction of the new Airport in 2012/13 to 2015/16, but they have fallen back since. In 2023/24, half of all full-time employees earned less than £10,490 a year – and a half earned more. A quarter earned less than £8,490 a year, and a quarter earned more than £13,940 a year. On average males are estimated to have earned just £80 a year more than women in 2023/24, a much smaller gap than in 2013/14, when it was estimated at £2,160 a year.
Imports of goods
In 2024/25, the total value of imported goods purchased abroad was £30.7 million.
Imports consist mainly of various manufactured goods, machinery and vehicles, food, fuel (diesel and petrol), and beverages and tobacco.
Imported goods are mostly purchased either in South Africa or the United Kingdom, apart from diesel, petrol, and specialised equipment.
Visitor expenditure
Exports of St Helena have historically consisted of both goods, largely fish and coffee, and services, especially in the form of spending by visitors to the island. Spending by visitors far exceeds the value of goods exports, but estimates are not precise and are given as a range to indicate that there is some uncertainty. In 2024, visitors to St Helena are estimated to have spent between £4.9 and £6.7 million.