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République du Bénin
Republic of Benin
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Motto: "Fraternité,
Justice, Travail" (French)
"Fellowship, Justice, Labour"
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Anthem: L'Aube Nouvelle (French)
The Dawn of a New Day
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Capital
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Porto-Novo1
6°28′N 2°36′E / 6.467, 2.6
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Largest city
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Cotonou
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Official languages
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French
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Demonym
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Beninese; Beninois
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Government
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Multiparty democracy
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President
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Yayi Boni
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Independence
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from France
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Date
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August 1, 1960
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Area
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Total
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112,622 km² (101st)
43,483 sq mi
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Water (%)
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1.8
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Population
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July 2005 estimate
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8,439,0002 (89th)
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2002 census
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6,769,914
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Density
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75/km² (118th3)
194/sq mi
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GDP (PPP)
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2005 estimate
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Total
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$8.75 billion (140th)
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Per capita
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$1,176 (166th)
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Gini (2003)
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36.5 (medium)
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HDI (2007)
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▲ 0.437 (low) (163rd)
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Currency
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West African CFA franc (XOF)
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Time zone
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WAT (UTC+1)
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Summer (DST)
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not observed (UTC+1)
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Internet TLD
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.bj
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Calling code
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+229
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1Cotonou is the seat of government.
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2
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.
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3Rank based on 2005 estimate.
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