ACOG - Benin  - IBM

Geography

Location: Western Africa, bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, between Nigeria and Togo

Area:
total area: 112,620 sq km
land area: 110,620 sq km
comparative area: slightly smaller than Pennsylvania

Land boundaries: total 1,989 km, Burkina 306 km, Niger 266 km, Nigeria 773 km, Togo644 km

Coastline: 121 km


People

Population: 5,522,677 (July 1995 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 48% (female 1,324,553; male 1,333,673)
15-64 years: 49% (female 1,431,630; male 1,299,180)
65 years and over: 3% (female 74,119; male 59,522)

Population growth rate: 3.33% (1995 est.)

Birth rate: 47.25 births/1,000 population

Death rate: 13.93 deaths/1,000 population

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population

Infant mortality rate: 107.6 deaths/1,000 live births

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 52.24 years
male: 50.34 years
female: 54.2 years

Total fertility rate: 6.72 children born/woman

Ethnic divisions: African 99% (42 ethnic groups, most important being Fon, Adja, Yoruba, Bariba), Europeans 5,500

Religions: indigenous beliefs 70%, Muslim 15%, Christian 15%

Languages: French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north)

Literacy: age 15 and over can read and write (1990 est.)
total population: 23%
male: 32%
female: 16%


Government

Names:
conventional long form: Republic of Benin
conventional short form: Benin

Type: republic under multiparty democratic rule dropped Marxism-LeninismDecember 1989; democratic reforms adopted February 1990; transition to multiparty system completed 4 April 1991

Capital: Porto-Novo

Independence: 1 August 1960 (from France)

Constitution: 2 December 1990


Economy

National product: GDP - purchasing power parity - $6.7 billion

National product real growth rate: 4%

National product per capita: $1,260

Inflation rate (consumer prices): 35%

Unemployment rate:

Electricity:
capacity: 30,000 kW
production: 10 million kWh
consumption per capita: 25 kWh



Olympic Factoid
An estimated 5.3 million visted Centennial Olympic Park between opening day - 13 July - and closing day - 4 August, making the park the most single most visited Olympic site during the Games.