Benin

Cheetah status           Country Background

Geography                  People

Government                Economy

Communication          References

                                         Tri-country W National Park

Principal Threat.  Insufficient numbers of cheetah to sustain a viable population and lack of habitat.

Area: total: 112,620 sq km; land: 110,620 sq km; water: 2,000 sq km

Climate: tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north

Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plain; some hills and low mountains

Natural resources: small offshore oil deposits, limestone, marble, timber

Land use: arable land: 23.53%; permanent crops: 2.37%; other: 74.1% (2005)

Irrigated land: 120 sq km (2003)

Natural hazards: hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north from December to March

Environment - current issues: inadequate supplies of potable water; poaching threatens wildlife populations; deforestation; desertification

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; signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements 
 

Population: 7,862,944
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 2006 est.)                                                                                                   

Age structure: 0-14 years: 44.1% (male 1,751,709/female 1,719,138); 15-64 years: 53.5% (male 2,067,248/female 2,138,957); 65 years and over: 2.4% (male 75,694/female 110,198) (2006 est.)

Median age: total: 17.6 years; male: 17.2 years; female: 18 years (2006 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.73% (2006 est.)                                                                                                                          Infant mortality rate: total: 79.56 deaths/1,000 live births; male: 84.09 deaths/1,000 live births; female: 74.88 deaths/1,000 live births (2006 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: total population: 53.04 years; male: 51.9 years; female: 54.22 years (2006 est.)

Total fertility rate: 5.2 children born/woman (2006 est.)

Distribution of the human population in Benin

HIV/AIDS - adult prevalence rate: 1.9% (2003 est.)

HIV/AIDS - people living with HIV/AIDS: 68,000 (2003 est.)                                                                                                HIV/AIDS - deaths: 5,800 (2003 est.)

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

Religions: indigenous beliefs 50%, Christian 30%, Muslim 20%

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

Literacy: definition: age 15 and over can read and write; total population: 33.6%; male: 46.4%; female: 22.6% (2002 est.)

Data code: BJ

Government type: republicI

ndependence: 1 August 1960 (from France)

Legal system: based on French civil law and customary law; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

Political pressure groups and leaders: NA

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 six 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. Many of these proposals 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 in spite of government reluctance. 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. Benin continues to be hurt by Nigerian trade protection that bans imports of a growing list of products from Benin and elsewhere, which has resulted in increased smuggling and criminality in the border region.

GDP - real growth rate: 4% (2006 est.)

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 32.8%; industry: 13.7%; services: 53.5% (2006 est.)

Labor force: 3.211 million (1996)

Unemployment rate: NA%

Population below poverty line: 33% (2001 est.)

Agriculture - products: cotton, corn, cassava (tapioca), yams, beans, palm oil, peanuts; livestock

Industries: textiles, food processing, construction materials, cement

Industrial production growth rate: 8.3% (2001 est.)

Exports: $563.1 million f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Exports - commodities: cotton, crude oil, palm products, cocoa

Exports - partners: China 31.3%, Indonesia 8.1%, India 7.4%, Niger 6%, Togo 4.8%, Thailand 4.8%, Nigeria 4.6% (2005)

Imports: $927.3 million f.o.b. (2006 est.)

Imports - commodities: foodstuffs, capital goods, petroleum products

Imports - partners: France 21.8%, Ghana 7.1%, Cote d'Ivoire 7%, China 6.7%, UK 5.2%, Belgium 4.9%, Togo 4.5%, Thailand 4.2%, Nigeria 4% (2005)  

                     
                     Distribution of bovine livestock in Benin

Currency (code): Communaute Financiere Africaine franc (XOF); note - responsible authority is the Central Bank of the West African States                                                                                                                                                                              Exchange rates: Communaute Financiere Africaine francs (XOF) per US dollar - 513.168 (2006), 527.47 (2005), 528.29 (2004), 581.2 (2003), 696.99 (2002)
 

Telephone system: general assessment: NA; domestic: fair system of open-wire, microwave radio relay, and cellular connections;
international: country code - 229; satellite earth station - 7 (Intelsat-Atlantic Ocean); fiber optic submarine cable (SAT-3/WASC) provides connectivity to Europe and Asia

Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 9, shortwave 4 (2000)

Television broadcast stations: 1 (2001)

Internet country code: .bj

Internet hosts: 867 (2006)

Internet users: 425,000 (2005)

Berzins R., Claro F., Akpona A.H. and Alfa Gambari Imorou S. 2007. Conservation du guépard et développement durable dans les aires protégées du nord Bénin. Mission d'enquête auprès des villageois et des agents d'aires protégées (16/12/2005-26/02/2006). Conservation of cheetahs in northern Benin. Zoological Society Paris, 57 pp.

Claro F., Helder R. 2004. The cheetah in the Pendjari Reserve of Biosphere, Benin. Report of an identification mission (of march, 2004)

Marker L., Malouf J. and Malouf A. 1999. Appendix 2: The status of the wild cheetah in its range countries. In: 1999 International Cheetah Studbook.

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ao.html (update on 15 March, 2007)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benin

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/map_sites/country_sites.html#benin