Benin

Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa on the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean, bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, and Burkina Faso and Niger to the northwest and northeast, covering approximately 112,622 square kilometers. Porto-Novo is the official capital, while Cotonou serves as the seat of government and the country's most populous city; Benin's population was estimated at about 15 million in 2026. Known as Dahomey under French colonial rule and after independence in 1960, the country was renamed Benin in 1975 following a Marxist-Leninist coup, and existed as the People's Republic of Benin until a new constitution in 1990 and 1991 established the current multi-party republic. Benin is a presidential republic with a multi-party democratic system, and its economy is heavily dependent on agriculture and the export of palm oil and cotton; French is the official language alongside numerous indigenous languages, and the population is predominantly Christian, at 53 percent, with a substantial Muslim minority at 31 percent and traditional African religions also widely practiced.