BENIN
(formerly Dahomey)
_Benin.jpg)
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| (See reference map VII) |
LAND
115,773 km2; southern third of country is most fertile; arable land 80% (actually cultivated 11%), forests and game preserves 19%, nonarable 1% Land boundaries: 1,963 km
WATER
Limits of territorial waters (claimed): 200 nm (100 nm mineral exploitation limit)
Coastline: 121 km
PEOPLE
Population: 3,636,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.6%
Nationality: noun—Beninese (sing., pl.); adjective—Beninese
Ethnic divisions: 99% Africans (42 ethnic groups, most important being Fon, Adja, Yoruba, Bariba), 5,500 Europeans
Religion: 12% Muslim, 8% Christian, 80% animist
Language: French official; Fon and Yoruba most common vernaculars in south; at least six major tribal languages in north
Literacy: about 20%
Labor force: 70% of labor force employed in agriculture; less than 2% of the labor force work in the industrial sector and the remainder are employed in transport, commerce, and public services
Organized labor: approximately 75% of wage earners, divided among two major and several minor unions
GOVERNMENT
Official name: People's Republic of Benin
Type: party state, under military rule since 26 October 1972; the military plans to relinquish power to a 336-member National Assembly
Capital: Porto-Novo (official), Cotonou (de facto)
Political subdivisions: 6 provinces, 46 districts
Legal system: based on French civil law and customary law; legal education generally obtained in France; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction
National holiday: 30 November
Branches: National Revolutionary Assembly, National Executive Council, Central Committee of party
Government leader: Col. Mathieu KEREKOU, President, Chief of State, and Minister of Defense
Suffrage: universal adult
Elections: National Assembly elections were held in November 1979; Assembly then formally elected Kerekou President in February 1980
Political parties: People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (PRPB) established in 1975
Communists: sole party espouses Marxism-Leninism
Member of: AFDB, CEAO, EAMA, ECA, ECOWAS, Entente, FAO, G-77, GATT, IBRD, ICAO, ICO, IDA, IFAD, ILO, IMCO, IMF, ITU, NAM, Niger River Commission, OAU, OCAM, UN, UNESCO, UPU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO
ECONOMY
GNP: $1,139.5 million (1980), $286 per capita; 5.7% real growth during 1980
Agriculture: major cash crop is oil palms; peanuts, cotton, coffee, sheanuts, and tobacco also produced commercially; main food crops—corn, cassava, yams, rice, sorghum and millet; livestock, fish
Fishing: catch 25,452 metric tons (1979 est.); exports 600 metric tons, imports 7,365 metric tons (1979)
Major industries: palm oil and palm kernel oil processing, textiles, beverages
Electric power: 19,500 kW capacity (1980); 8 million kWh produced (1980), 80 million kWh imported from Ghana, 2 kWh per capita
Exports: $170 million (f.o.b., 1980); palm products (34%); other agricultural products
Imports: $410 million (c.i.f., 1980); clothing and other consumer goods, cement, lumber, fuels, foodstuffs, machinery, and transport equipment
Major trade partners: France, EC, franc zone; preferential tariffs to EC and franc zone countries
Budget: (1980) revenues $156.2 million, current expenditures $127.1 million, development expenditures $139.0 million
Monetary conversion rate: 281.23 Communaute Financier Africaine (CFA) francs=US$1 (1981)
Fiscal year: calendar year
COMMUNICATIONS
Railroads: 579 km, all meter gauge (1.00 m)
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