Demographics of Benin
demographics of country
The demographics of Benin include population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, religious affiliations and other aspects of the population.
The majority of Benin's 13.3 million people live in the south. The population is young, with a life expectancy of 62 years.
About 42 African ethnic groups live in this country; these various groups settled in Benin at different times and have also migrated within the country. Ethnic groups include:
the Yoruba in the southeast (migrated from what is now Nigeria in the 12th century);
the Dendi in the north-central area (they came from what is now Mali in the 16th century);
the Bariba and the Fula (or Fulani) (Fula: Fulɓe; French: Peul) in the northeast;
the Betammaribe and the Somba in the Atacora Range;
the Fon in the area around Abomey in the South Central; and
the Mina, Xweda, and Aja (who came from what is now Togo in the 12th century) on the coast.
the Ewe people on the coast
French is the official language but is spoken more in urban than in rural areas. The literacy rate is 54% among adult males and 31% among adult females as of 2018; these rates are slowly growing. Recent migrations have brought other African nationals to Benin, including Nigerians, Togolese and Malians. The foreign community also includes many Lebanese and Indians involved in trade and commerce. The personnel of the many European embassies, foreign aid missions, nongovernmental organizations and missionary groups account for much of the 5,500 European population.
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This entry incorporates text from “Demographics of Benin” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.