All City Population

Largest Cities in Benin

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Facts about Benin

Official languages: French
Capital: Porto Novo
Area: 112,620 km²
Population: 9.1 million residents
Population density: 80.41 residents per km²
Currency: XOF
Internet TLD: .bj
ISO codes: BJ, BEN, 204
The telephone code for Benin is +229

Benin Flag

Benin is a state in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Burkina Faso and Niger to the north, Nigeria to the east and the Gulf of Guinea, more precisely the Bay of Benin, to the south. Until 1975 the country was called Dahomey. The name is in tradition for the historical kingdom of Dahomey. The former Kingdom of Dahomey was a colony of French West Africa until independence in 1960. In 1990, after 17 years of Marxist-Leninist one-party rule, Benin became one of the first African democracies. Since then, the country has been in a slow process of democratization.

Benin is one of the poorest countries in the world. A little more than a third of the almost ten million Beninese live below the poverty line. In rural areas in particular, poverty is particularly high at around 50 percent of the population.

Benin, one of the least developed countries in the world, faces major challenges in the years to come. These include the fight against poverty, the further decentralization of the state structure, administrative reforms, the fight against corruption and crime, the promotion of women in Benin society, the containment of AIDS and the reduction of the high population growth. In addition, there is the rehabilitation of the economy, the strengthening of the administration and an improvement in investment conditions in order to attract more foreign investors.

Against the background of the UN military intervention in Mali and its support also by the Benin government as well as Benin’s participation in the regional fight against the Boko Haram group, it cannot be ruled out that terrorist groups will be active in Benin.

Biggest Cities of Benin by Population

# City Population Latitude Longitude
1 Cotonou, Benin 780,111 6.36536 2.41833
2 Abomey-Calavi, Benin 385,866 6.44852 2.35566
3 Djougou, Benin 237,151 9.70853 1.66598
4 Porto-Novo, Benin 234,279 6.49646 2.60359
5 Parakou, Benin 163,864 9.33716 2.63031
6 Bohicon, Benin 125,203 7.17826 2.0667
7 Kandi, Benin 109,812 11.1342 2.93861
8 Lokossa, Benin 87,082 6.63869 1.71674
9 Ouidah, Benin 83,614 6.36307 2.08506
10 Abomey, Benin 82,265 7.18286 1.99119
11 Natitingou, Benin 81,003 10.3042 1.37962
12 Save, Benin 76,081 8.03424 2.4866
13 Nikki, Benin 54,120 9.94009 3.21075
14 Dogbo, Benin 41,423 6.79911 1.78073
15 Cove, Benin 38,677 7.22097 2.34017
16 Malanville, Benin 37,228 11.8682 3.38327
17 Pobe, Benin 33,094 6.98008 2.6649
18 Savalou, Benin 30,298 7.92807 1.97558
19 Sakete, Benin 30,222 6.73618 2.65866
20 Come, Benin 29,319 6.40764 1.88198
21 Bembereke, Benin 24,117 10.2283 2.66335
22 Bassila, Benin 23,727 9.00814 1.6654
23 Banikoara, Benin 22,598 11.2985 2.43856
24 Ketou, Benin 22,452 7.36332 2.59978
25 Dassa-Zoume, Benin 21,783 7.75 2.18333
26 Tchaourou, Benin 21,082 8.88649 2.59753
27 Allada, Benin 20,205 6.66547 2.15138
28 Aplahoue, Benin 19,973 6.93333 1.68333
29 Tanguieta, Benin 19,944 10.6212 1.26651
30 Hevie, Benin 13,561 6.41667 2.25
31 Beterou, Benin 13,219 9.19916 2.25855
32 Grand-Popo, Benin 9,958 6.28036 1.82251
33 Guilmaro, Benin 6,627 10.5658 1.72444

Benin: Porto Novo

The capital of Benin is called Porto Novo. This is Portuguese and means “New Port”. Porto Novo is in the south of the country. Besides her, Cotonou also plays an important role. That’s where the government sits. As a port city, Cotonou is also of great economic importance. With around 800,000 inhabitants, Cotonou is also larger than Porto Novo (270,000 inhabitants) and the largest city in the country.

Countries neighboring Benin

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