CBI Index Highlights Industry Evolution Over Decade

The tenth-anniversary edition of the CBI Index, published today, draws on a decade of data to showcase how the citizenship-by-investment (CBI) industry has evolved and been reshaped by factors such as rising thresholds, stronger regulation, and the emergence of new country players. The CBI Index, the only independent report ranking programs in the CBI industry, has tracked the industry's progress and challenges over the past ten years, assessing the various programs available and providing prospective applicants with a trusted benchmark for comparison.

St. Kitts and Nevis emerges as the best CBI program in the CBI Index 2026, followed by Dominica and Grenada, with Caribbean programs holding all five leading positions in the Index's tenth edition. Outside the Caribbean, Nauru has strengthened its position as the highest-ranked program outside the region, completing its first full operational cycle. In contrast, Malta's score fell after it ended its former investor framework and moved to a discretionary Citizenship by Merit route following the April 2025 judgment of the Court of Justice of the European Union.

This year's report focuses on a broader repricing of citizenship, with changes such as harmonized minimum investment thresholds, more extensive due diligence, and the creation of the Eastern Caribbean Citizenship by Investment Regulatory Authority (ECCIRA) altering how programs compete. The effective price of citizenship is also increasingly influenced by what applicants must do to qualify, with the ECCIRA agreement mandating that CBI citizens spend at least 30 days in their country of citizenship in total during the first five years.

The report also notes that recent instability in the Middle East has not produced the expected rise in CBI demand, suggesting that citizenship is increasingly considered within a broader context of mobility and wealth planning rather than as a quick response to crisis.

The CBI Index, now in its tenth edition, evaluates programs across nine pillars, including Standard of Living, Freedom of Movement, Investment Options and Threshold, Mandatory Travel or Residence, Citizenship Timeline, Ease of Processing, Due Diligence, Family, and Certainty of Product. Each pillar is scored out of ten, giving a maximum total of 90 points.

The 2026 edition covers 14 programs, including Antigua and Barbuda, Austria, Cambodia, Dominica, Egypt, Grenada, Jordan, Malta, Nauru, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, São Tomé and Príncipe, Türkiye, and Vanuatu. Only measures that have been officially confirmed and implemented, or are supported by applicable legal documentation, are reflected in the scores.

The CBI Index is an annual benchmark assessing the performance and appeal of the world's operational CBI programs. The report also examines prospective entrants, including Argentina, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Botswana, which would extend CBI into new regions. The next edition of the CBI Index is available at www.cbiindex.com.