1981 Edition

Airfields

9 total, 9 usable; 1 with permanent-surface runways; 4 with runways 1,220-2,439 m

Area

115,773 kms; southern third of country is most fertile; arable land 80% (actually cultivated 11%), forests and game preserves 19%, nonarable 1%

54.4 km2; 8% arable, 60% forested, 21% built on, wasteland, and other, 11% leased for air and naval bases

1,266,510 km2; about 3% cultivated, perhaps 20% somewhat arable, remainder desert

Civil air

3 major transport aircraft

Coastline

121 km

103 km

Highways

3,303 km total; 705 km paved, 2,598 km improved earth

Inland waterways

small sections, only important locally

Land boundaries

1,963 km

5,745 km

Limits of territorial waters (claimed)

200 nm (100 nm mineral exploitation limit)

3 nm (fishing 200 nm)

Military manpower

eligible 15-49, 1,579,000; of the 778,000 males 15-49, 393,000 are fit for military service; about 37,000 males and 38,000 females reach military age (18) annually; both sexes are liable for military service

Ports

1 major (Cotonou), 1 minor

Telecommunications

fair system of open wire and radio relay; 16,200 telephones (0.5 per 100 popl.); 2 AM stations, 1 FM station, and 1 TV station DEFENSE FORCES

Ethnic divisions

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

approximately 61% black, 39% white

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

29,669 employed (1980)

Language

French official; Fon and Yoruba most common vernaculars in south; at least six major tribal languages in north

English

Literacy

about 20%

98%

Nationality

noun — Beninese (sing., pi.); adjective — Beninese

noun — Bermudian(s); adjective — Bermudian

noun — Nigerien(s) (sing, and pi.); adjective —

Organized labor

approximately 75% of wage earners, divided among two major and several minor unions

Population

3,636,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.6%

72,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.6%

5,833,000 (July 1982), average annual growth rate 2.9%

Religion

12% Muslim, 8% Christian, 80% animist

37% Church of England, 19% other Protestant, 14% Catholic, 30% other

Branches

National Revolutionary Assembly, National Executive Council, Central Committee of party

Executive Council (cabinet) appointed by governor, led by government leader; bicameral legislature with an appointed Legislative Council and a 40-member directly elected House of Assembly; Supreme Court

Capital

Porto-Novo (official), Cotonou (de facto)

Hamilton

Communists

sole party espouses Marxism-Leninism

Elections

National Assembly elections were held in November 1979; Assembly then formally elected Kerekou President in February 1980

at least once every five years; last general election, December 1980

Government leader

Col. Mathieu KEREKOU, President, Chief of State, and Minister of Defense

Government leaders

Governor Sir Richard POSNETT; Premier John William David SWAN

Legal system

based on French civil law and customary law; legal education generally obtained in France; has not accepted compulsory ICJ jurisdiction

English law

Member of

AFDB, CEAO, EAMA, EGA, 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

National holiday

30 November

Official name

People's Republic of Benin

Bermuda

Political parties

People's Revolutionary Party of Benin (PRPB) established in 1975

Political subdivisions

6 provinces, 46 districts

9 parishes

Suffrage

universal adult

universal over age 21

Type

party state, under military rule since 26 October 1972; the military plans to relinquish power to a 336member National Assembly

British colony

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

Budget

(1980) revenues $156.2 million, current expenditures $127.1 million, development expenditures $139.0 million

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

Fiscal year

calendar year

Fishing

catch 25,452 metric tons (1979 est); exports 600 metric tons, imports 7,365 metric tons (1979)

GNP

$1,139.5 million (1980), $286 per capita; 5.7% real growth during 1980

Imports

$410 million (c.i.f., 1980); clothing and other consumer goods, cement, lumber, fuels, foodstuffs, machinery, and transport equipment

Major industries

palm oil and palm kernel oil processing, textiles, beverages

Major trade partners

France, EC, franc zone; preferential tariffs to EC and franc zone countries

Monetary conversion rate

281.23 Communaute Financiere Africaine (CFA) francs=US$l (1981)

Railroads

579 km, all meter gauge (1.00 m)