Benin Country Info - Africa

Description and Basic Information

Benin with its capital Porto-Novo is located in Africa (Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin). It covers some 112,621 square kilometres (slightly smaller than Pennsylvania) with 8,294,000 citizens. French is the language used by the people in Benin. Niger, Togo, Burkina Faso and Nigeria are bordering countries.

Benin is a great country to visit on any West African itinerary. You'll find a large quantity of palatial ruins and temples of the once powerful Kingdom of Dahomey (1800s–1894). The national parks of Benin are also well worth a visit for their wildlife. The best time of the year to visit the country is from November to February, when the temperature moderates, and the weather is dry with low humidity. Benin is also, fortunately, one of the most stable and safe countries of the region for traveling. Visas can be single entry ($40USD) or multiple entry ($45USD) and last 30 days. Visas cost $100 for US citizens.

Pictures from Capital (Porto-Novo)

Photos provided by Panoramio are under the copyright of their owners.

About Benin

The landscape features mostly flat to undulating plain and some hills and low mountains. The average density of population is about 73 per km². The climate in Benin can be described as tropical with hot, humid in south, semiarid in north. Potential threats by nature are hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north from December to March.

To reach someone in Benin dial +229 prior to a number. There are 127,100 installed telephones. And there are 5,033,000 registered mobile phones. The cellular networks operate on frequencies of 900, 1800 Mhz. Websites typically end with the top level domain ".bj". If you want to bring electric appliances (e.g. battery charger), keep in mind the local 220V - 50Hz. The following list are the 13 regions/states in Benin we know off.

Demographic Statistics

In the year 2010, the total Beninese population grew at a rate of 2.94% (or by 266,609 citizens). With 83,587 deaths and 350,196 babies born, the natural increase rate lies at 2.94%. 0 persons more in total immigrated to the country than emmigrated.

An overview of age distribution in Benin: Each pair of bars represents a single age group (male/female). Each group is spanning 5 years. E.g. 0 to 5 years, 5 to 10 etc. and group "0 to 5" being at the left end and "100 +" at the right end of the chart.

Based on content from wikitravel.org. The original article can be found here based on the work of these users.
Geographic information is based on the data provided by geonames.org, CIA factsbook and Unesco.