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Compare Benin (2008) - World (2001)

Compare Benin (2008) z World (2001)

 Benin (2008)World (2001)
 BeninWorld
Administrative divisions 12 departments; Alibori, Atakora, Atlantique, Borgou, Collines, Kouffo, Donga, Littoral, Mono, Oueme, Plateau, Zou 267 nations, dependent areas, other, and miscellaneous entries
Age structure 0-14 years: 43.9% (male 1,788,248/female 1,754,940)


15-64 years: 53.7% (male 2,138,649/female 2,203,291)


65 years and over: 2.4% (male 77,844/female 115,342) (2007 est.)
0-14 years:
29.6% (male 933,647,850; female 886,681,514)

15-64 years:
63.4% (male 1,975,418,386; female 1,931,021,694)

65 years and over:
7% (male 188,760,223; female 241,449,691) (2001 est.)
Agriculture - products cotton, corn, cassava (tapioca), yams, beans, palm oil, peanuts, cashews; livestock -
Airports 5 (2007) -
Airports - with paved runways total: 1


1,524 to 2,437 m: 1 (2007)
-
Airports - with unpaved runways total: 4


2,438 to 3,047 m: 1


1,524 to 2,437 m: 1


914 to 1,523 m: 2 (2007)
-
Area total: 112,620 sq km


land: 110,620 sq km


water: 2,000 sq km
total:
510.072 million sq km

land:
148.94 million sq km

water:
361.132 million sq km

note:
70.8% of the world's surface is water, 29.2% is land
Area - comparative slightly smaller than Pennsylvania land area about 16 times the size of the US
Background Present day Benin was the site of Dahomey, a prominent West African kingdom that rose in the 15th century. The territory became a French Colony in 1872 and achieved independence on 1 August 1960, as the Republic of Benin. A succession of military governments ended in 1972 with the rise to power of Mathieu KEREKOU and the establishment of a government based on Marxist-Leninist principles. A move to representative government began in 1989. Two years later, free elections ushered in former Prime Minister Nicephore SOGLO as president, marking the first successful transfer of power in Africa from a dictatorship to a democracy. KEREKOU was returned to power by elections held in 1996 and 2001, though some irregularities were alleged. KEREKOU stepped down at the end of his second term in 2006 and was succeeded by Thomas YAYI Boni, a political outsider and independent. YAYI has begun a high profile fight against corruption and has strongly promoted accelerating Benin's economic growth. Globally, the 20th century was marked by: (a) two devastating world wars; (b) the Great Depression of the 1930s; (c) the end of vast colonial empires; (d) rapid advances in science and technology, from the first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina (US) to the landing on the moon; (e) the Cold War between the Western alliance and the Warsaw Pact nations; (f) a sharp rise in living standards in North America, Europe, and Japan; (g) increased concerns about the environment, including loss of forests, shortages of energy and water, the drop in biological diversity, and air pollution; (h) the onset of the AIDS epidemic; and (i) the ultimate emergence of the US as the only world superpower. The planet's population continues to explode: from 1 billion in 1820, to 2 billion in 1930, 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1988, and 6 billion in 2000. For the 21st century, the continued exponential growth in science and technology raises both hopes (e.g., advances in medicine) and fears (e.g., development of even more lethal weapons of war).
Birth rate 38.1 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) 21.37 births/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Budget revenues: $936.9 million


expenditures: $1.226 billion (2007 est.)
-
Capital name: Porto-Novo (official capital)


geographic coordinates: 6 29 N, 2 37 E


time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)


note: Cotonou (seat of government)
-
Climate tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north two large areas of polar climates separated by two rather narrow temperate zones from a wide equatorial band of tropical to subtropical climates
Coastline 121 km 356,000 km
Constitution adopted by referendum 2 December 1990 -
Country name conventional long form: Republic of Benin


conventional short form: Benin


local long form: Republique du Benin


local short form: Benin


former: Dahomey
-
Death rate 11.94 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) 8.93 deaths/1,000 population (2001 est.)
Debt - external $1.2 billion (2007) $2 trillion for less developed countries (2000 est.)
Diplomatic representation from the US chief of mission: Ambassador Gayleatha B. BROWN


embassy: Rue Caporal Bernard Anani, Cotonou


mailing address: 01 B. P. 2012, Cotonou


telephone: [229] 21-30-06-50


FAX: [229] 21-30-03-84
-
Diplomatic representation in the US chief of mission: Ambassador Cyrille Segbe OGUIN


chancery: 2124 Kalorama Road NW, Washington, DC 20008


telephone: [1] (202) 232-6656


FAX: [1] (202) 265-1996
-
Disputes - international two villages remain in dispute along the border with Burkina Faso; Benin accused Burkina Faso of moving boundary pillars; much of Benin-Niger boundary, including tripoint with Nigeria, remains undemarcated; in 2005, Nigeria ceded thirteen villages to Benin, but border relations remain strained by rival gang clashes; Benin and Togo announced plans in 2006 to construct a joint hydroelectric dam on the Mona River at the southern end of the border -
Economic aid - recipient $374.7 million (2006) traditional worldwide foreign aid $50 billion (1997 est.)
Economy - overview The economy of Benin remains underdeveloped and dependent on subsistence agriculture, cotton production, and regional trade. Growth in real output has averaged around 5% in the past seven years, but rapid population growth has offset much of this increase. Inflation has subsided over the past several years. In order to raise growth still further, Benin plans to attract more foreign investment, place more emphasis on tourism, facilitate the development of new food processing systems and agricultural products, and encourage new information and communication technology. Specific projects to improve the business climate by reforms to the land tenure system, the commercial justice system, and the financial sector were included in Benin's $307 million Millennium Challenge Account grant signed in February 2006. The 2001 privatization policy continues in telecommunications, water, electricity, and agriculture though the government annulled the privatization of Benin's state cotton company in November 2007 after the discovery of irregularities in the bidding process. The Paris Club and bilateral creditors have eased the external debt situation, with Benin benefiting from a G8 debt reduction announced in July 2005, while pressing for more rapid structural reforms. An insufficient electrical supply continues to adversely affect Benin's economic growth though the government recently has taken steps to increase domestic power production. Growth in global output (gross world product, GWP) rose to 4.8% in 2000 from 3.5% in 1999, despite continued low growth in Japan, severe financial difficulties in other East Asian countries, and widespread dislocations in several transition economies. The US economy continued its remarkable sustained prosperity, growing at 5% in 2000, although growth slowed in fourth quarter 2000; the US accounted for 23% of GWP. The EU economies grew at 3.3% and produced 20% of GWP. China, the second largest economy in the world, continued its strong growth and accounted for 10% of GWP. Japan grew at only 1.3% in 2000; its share in GWP is 7%. As usual, the 15 successor nations of the USSR and the other old Warsaw Pact nations experienced widely different rates of growth. The developing nations also varied in their growth results, with many countries facing population increases that eat up gains in output. Externally, the nation-state, as a bedrock economic-political institution, is steadily losing control over international flows of people, goods, funds, and technology. Internally, the central government often finds its control over resources slipping as separatist regional movements - typically based on ethnicity - gain momentum, e.g., in many of the successor states of the former Soviet Union, in the former Yugoslavia, in India, and in Canada. In Western Europe, governments face the difficult political problem of channeling resources away from welfare programs in order to increase investment and strengthen incentives to seek employment. The addition of 80 million people each year to an already overcrowded globe is exacerbating the problems of pollution, desertification, underemployment, epidemics, and famine. Because of their own internal problems and priorities, the industrialized countries devote insufficient resources to deal effectively with the poorer areas of the world, which, at least from the economic point of view, are becoming further marginalized. Continued financial difficulties in East Asia, Russia, and many African nations, as well as the slowdown in US economic growth, cast a shadow over short-term global economic prospects; GWP probably will grow at 3-4% in 2001. The introduction of the euro as the common currency of much of Western Europe in January 1999, while paving the way for an integrated economic powerhouse, poses serious economic risks because of varying levels of income and cultural and political differences among the participating nations. (For specific economic developments in each country of the world in 2000, see the individual country entries.)
Electricity - consumption 587 million kWh (2005) -
Electricity - exports 0 kWh (2005) -
Electricity - imports 595 million kWh (2005) -
Electricity - production 105 million kWh (2005) -
Electricity - production by source - fossil fuel:
NA%

hydro:
NA%

nuclear:
NA%

other:
NA%
Elevation extremes lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m


highest point: Mont Sokbaro 658 m
lowest point:
Bentley Subglacial Trench -2,540 m

highest point:
Mount Everest 8,850 m (1999 est.)
Environment - current issues inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching threatens wildlife populations; deforestation; desertification large areas subject to overpopulation, industrial disasters, pollution (air, water, acid rain, toxic substances), loss of vegetation (overgrazing, deforestation, desertification), loss of wildlife, soil degradation, soil depletion, erosion
Environment - international agreements party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Endangered Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands, Whaling


signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements
-
Ethnic groups Fon and related 39.2%, Adja and related 15.2%, Yoruba and related 12.3%, Bariba and related 9.2%, Peulh and related 7%, Ottamari and related 6.1%, Yoa-Lokpa and related 4%, Dendi and related 2.5%, other 1.6% (includes Europeans), unspecified 2.9% (2002 census) -
Exchange rates Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 493.51 (2007), 522.59 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003) -
Executive branch chief of state: President Thomas YAYI Boni (since 6 April 2006); note - the president is both the chief of state and head of government


head of government: President Thomas YAYI Boni (since 6 April 2006)


cabinet: Council of Ministers appointed by the president


elections: president elected by popular vote for a five-year term (eligible for a second term); runoff election held 19 March 2006 (next to be held in March 2011)


election results: Thomas YAYI Boni elected president; percent of vote - Thomas YAYI Boni 74.5%, Adrien HOUNGBEDJI 25.5%
-
Exports 0 bbl/day (2007) $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Exports - commodities cotton, cashews, shea butter, textiles, palm products, seafood the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Exports - partners China 20.9%, Indonesia 7.7%, India 7%, Netherlands 6.2%, Niger 5.7%, Togo 4.6%, Nigeria 4.3% (2006) in value, about 75% of exports from the developed countries
Fiscal year calendar year -
Flag description two equal horizontal bands of yellow (top) and red (bottom) with a vertical green band on the hoist side -
GDP - GWP (gross world product) - purchasing power parity - $43.6 trillion (2000 est.)
GDP - composition by sector agriculture: 33.2%


industry: 14.5%


services: 52.3% (2007 est.)
agriculture:
4%

industry:
32%

services:
64% (1999 est.)
GDP - per capita - purchasing power parity - $7,200 (2000 est.)
GDP - real growth rate 4.5% (2007 est.) 4.8% (2000 est.)
Geographic coordinates 9 30 N, 2 15 E -
Geography - note sandbanks create difficult access to a coast with no natural harbors, river mouths, or islands -
Highways - total:
NA km

paved:
NA km

unpaved:
NA km
Household income or consumption by percentage share lowest 10%: 3.1%


highest 10%: 29% (2003)
lowest 10%:
NA%

highest 10%:
NA%
Illicit drugs transshipment point used by Nigerian traffickers for narcotics destined for Western Europe; vulnerable to money laundering due to poorly enforced financial regulations -
Imports 16,830 bbl/day (2007 est.) $6 trillion (f.o.b., 2000 est.)
Imports - commodities foodstuffs, capital goods, petroleum products the whole range of industrial and agricultural goods and services
Imports - partners China 46.6%, France 7.5%, Thailand 6% (2006) in value, about 75% of imports by the developed countries
Independence 1 August 1960 (from France) -
Industrial production growth rate 4.5% (2007 est.) 6% (2000 est.)
Industries textiles, food processing, construction materials, cement dominated by the onrush of technology, especially in computers, robotics, telecommunications, and medicines and medical equipment; most of these advances take place in OECD nations; only a small portion of non-OECD countries have succeeded in rapidly adjusting to these technological forces; the accelerated development of new industrial (and agricultural) technology is complicating already grim environmental problems
Infant mortality rate total: 77.85 deaths/1,000 live births


male: 82.32 deaths/1,000 live births


female: 73.26 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.)
52.61 deaths/1,000 live births (2001 est.)
Inflation rate (consumer prices) 2.5% (2007 est.) all countries 25%; developed countries 1% to 3% typically; developing countries 5% to 60% typically (2000 est.)

note:
national inflation rates vary widely in individual cases, from stable prices in Japan to hyperinflation in a number of Third World countries
International organization participation ACCT, ACP, AfDB, AU, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, FZ, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICCt, ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, ILO, IMF, IMO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO (correspondent), ITSO, ITU, ITUC, MIGA, MONUC, NAM, OIC, OIF, OPCW, PCA, UN, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOCI, UNWTO, UPU, WADB (regional), WAEMU, WCL, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO -
Internet Service Providers (ISPs) - 10,350 (2000 est.)
Irrigated land 120 sq km (2003) 2,481,250 sq km (1993 est.)
Judicial branch Constitutional Court or Cour Constitutionnelle; Supreme Court or Cour Supreme; High Court of Justice -
Labor force 5.38 million (2007 est.) NA
Labor force - by occupation - agricultue NA%, industry NA%, services NA%
Land boundaries total: 1,989 km


border countries: Burkina Faso 306 km, Niger 266 km, Nigeria 773 km, Togo 644 km
the land boundaries in the world total 251,480.24 km (not counting shared boundaries twice)
Land use arable land: 23.53%


permanent crops: 2.37%


other: 74.1% (2005)
arable land:
10%

permanent crops:
1%

permanent pastures:
26%

forests and woodland:
32%

other:
31% (1993 est.)
Languages French (official), Fon and Yoruba (most common vernaculars in south), tribal languages (at least six major ones in north) -
Legal system based on French civil law and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction all members of the UN plus Switzerland are parties to the statute that established the International Court of Justice (ICJ) or World Court
Legislative branch unicameral National Assembly or Assemblee Nationale (83 seats; members are elected by direct popular vote to serve four-year terms)


elections: last held 31 March 2007 (next to be held by March 2011)


election results: percent of vote by party - NA; seats by party - FCBE 35, ADD 20, PRD 10, other and independents 18
-
Life expectancy at birth total population: 53.44 years


male: 52.28 years


female: 54.63 years (2007 est.)
total population:
63.79 years

male:
62.15 years

female:
65.51 years (2001 est.)
Literacy definition: age 15 and over can read and write


total population: 34.7%


male: 47.9%


female: 23.3% (2002 census)
-
Location Western Africa, bordering the Bight of Benin, between Nigeria and Togo -
Map references Africa World, Time Zones
Maritime claims territorial sea: 200 nm contiguous zone:
24 NM claimed by most, but can vary

continental shelf:
200-m depth claimed by most or to depth of exploitation; others claim 200 NM or to the edge of the continental margin

exclusive fishing zone:
200 NM claimed by most, but can vary

exclusive economic zone:
200 NM claimed by most, but can vary

territorial sea:
12 NM claimed by most, but can vary

note:
boundary situations with neighboring states prevent many countries from extending their fishing or economic zones to a full 200 NM; 43 nations and other areas that are landlocked include Afghanistan, Andorra, Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bhutan, Bolivia, Botswana, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Central African Republic, Chad, Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Holy See (Vatican City), Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Lesotho, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Malawi, Mali, Moldova, Mongolia, Nepal, Niger, Paraguay, Rwanda, San Marino, Slovakia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Tajikistan, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, West Bank, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Military branches Benin Armed Forces (FAB): Army (l'Arme de Terre), Benin Navy (Forces Navales Beninois, FNB), Benin People's Air Force (Force Aerienne Populaire de Benin, FAPB) (2008) -
Military expenditures - dollar figure - aggregate real expenditure on arms worldwide in 1999 remained at approximately the 1998 level, about three-quarters of a trillion dollars (1999 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP 1.7% (2006) roughly 2% of gross world product (1999 est.)
National holiday National Day, 1 August (1960) -
Nationality noun: Beninese (singular and plural)


adjective: Beninese
-
Natural hazards hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north from December to March large areas subject to severe weather (tropical cyclones), natural disasters (earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions)
Natural resources small offshore oil deposits, limestone, marble, timber the rapid using up of nonrenewable mineral resources, the depletion of forest areas and wetlands, the extinction of animal and plant species, and the deterioration in air and water quality (especially in Eastern Europe, the former USSR, and China) pose serious long-term problems that governments and peoples are only beginning to address
Net migration rate 0.58 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) -
Political parties and leaders Alliance for Dynamic Democracy or ADD; Alliance of Progress Forces or AFP; African Movement for Democracy and Progress or MADEP [Sefou FAGBOHOUN]; Benin Renaissance or RB [Rosine SOGLO]; Democratic Renewal Party or PRD [Adrien HOUNGBEDJI]; Force Cowrie for an Emerging Benin or FCBE; Impulse for Progress and Democracy or IPD [Theophile NATA]; Key Force or FC [Lazare SÈHOUÉTO]; Movement for the People's Alternative or MAP [Olivier CAPO-CHICHI]; Rally for Democracy and Progress or RDP [Dominique HOUNGNINOU]; Social Democrat Party or PSD [Bruno AMOUSSOU]; Union for the Relief or UPR [Issa SALIFOU]; Union for Democracy and National Solidarity or UDS [Sacca LAFIA]


note: approximately 20 additional minor parties
-
Political pressure groups and leaders NA -
Population 8,078,314


note: estimates for this country explicitly take into account the effects of excess mortality due to AIDS; this can result in lower life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex than would otherwise be expected (July 2007 est.)
6,157,400,560 (July 2001 est.)
Population below poverty line 37.4% (2007 est.) -
Population growth rate 2.674% (2007 est.) 1.25% (2001 est.)
Ports and harbors - Chiba, Houston, Kawasaki, Kobe, Marseille, Mina' al Ahmadi (Kuwait), New Orleans, New York, Rotterdam, Yokohama
Radio broadcast stations AM 1, FM 34, shortwave 1 (2007) AM NA, FM NA, shortwave NA
Radios - NA
Railways total: 758 km


narrow gauge: 758 km 1.000-m gauge (2006)
total:
1,201,337 km includes about 190,000 to 195,000 km of electrified routes of which 147,760 km are in Europe, 24,509 km in the Far East, 11,050 km in Africa, 4,223 km in South America, and 4,160 km in North America; note - fastest speed in daily service is 300 km/hr attained by France's Societe Nationale des Chemins-de-Fer Francais (SNCF) Le Train a Grande Vitesse (TGV) - Atlantique line

broad gauge:
251,153 km

standard gauge:
710,754 km

narrow gauge:
239,430 km
Religions Christian 42.8% (Catholic 27.1%, Celestial 5%, Methodist 3.2%, other Protestant 2.2%, other 5.3%), Muslim 24.4%, Vodoun 17.3%, other 15.5% (2002 census) -
Sex ratio at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female


under 15 years: 1.019 male(s)/female


15-64 years: 0.971 male(s)/female


65 years and over: 0.675 male(s)/female


total population: 0.983 male(s)/female (2007 est.)
at birth:
1.05 male(s)/female

under 15 years:
1.05 male(s)/female

15-64 years:
1.02 male(s)/female

65 years and over:
0.78 male(s)/female

total population:
1.05 male(s)/female (2001 est.)
Suffrage 18 years of age; universal -
Telephone system general assessment: inadequate; fixed-line network is almost saturated with fixed-line teledensity stuck at a meager 1 per 100 persons; mobile-cellular telephone subscribership is increasing


domestic: fair system of open-wire, microwave radio relay, and cellular connections; four mobile-cellular providers


international: country code - 229; landing point for the SAT-3/WASC fiber-optic submarine cable that provides connectivity to Europe and Asia; satellite earth station - 7 (Intelsat-Atlantic Ocean) (2007)
general assessment:
NA

domestic:
NA

international:
NA
Telephones - main lines in use 77,300 (2006) NA
Telephones - mobile cellular 1.056 million (2006) NA
Television broadcast stations 6 (2007) NA
Terrain mostly flat to undulating plain; some hills and low mountains the greatest ocean depth is the Mariana Trench at 10,924 m in the Pacific Ocean
Total fertility rate 5.08 children born/woman (2007 est.) 2.73 children born/woman (2001 est.)
Unemployment rate NA% 30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2000 est.)
Waterways 150 km (on River Niger along northern border) (2005) -
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