ards: hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north in
winter

Environment - current issues: recent droughts have severely affected
marginal agriculture in north; inadequate supplies of potable water;
poaching threatens wildlife populations; deforestation;
desertification

Environment - international agreements:
party to: Biodiversity, Climate Change, Desertification, Endangered
Species, Environmental Modification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea,
Nuclear Test Ban, Ozone Layer Protection, Ship Pollution, Wetlands
signed, but not ratified: none of the selected agreements

Geography - note: no natural harbors

@Benin:People

Population: 6,395,919
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 2000 est.)

Age structure:
0-14 years: 47% (male 1,531,636; female 1,503,552)
15-64 years: 50% (male 1,551,867; female 1,660,845)
65 years and over: 3% (male 63,717; female 84,302) (2000 est.)

Population growth rate: 3.03% (2000 est.)

Birth rate: 44.81 births/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Death rate: 14.51 deaths/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2000 est.)

Sex ratio:
at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female
under 15 years: 1.02 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 0.93 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.76 male(s)/female
total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2000 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 90.84 deaths/1,000 live births (2000 est.)

Life expectancy at birth:
total population: 50.18 years
male: 49.24 years
female: 51.16 years (2000 est.)

Total fertility rate: 6.32 children born/woman (2000 est.)

Nationality:
noun: Beninese (singular and plural)
adjective: Beninese

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

Religions: indigenous beliefs 70%, Muslim 15%, Christian 15%

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: 37%
male: 48.7%
female: 25.8% (1995 est.)

@Benin:Government

Country name:
conventional long form: Republic of Benin
conventional short form: Be