Geography Quiz Arcade

Benin 🇧🇯

Benin is a country in Africa with a population of 13,352,864. Its capital is Porto-Novo. The official currency is XOF, and the main languages are French.

Quick facts

  • Capital: Porto-Novo
  • Continent: Africa
  • Population: 13,352,864
  • Area: 112,622 km²
  • Density: 119 people per km²
  • Currency: XOF
  • Languages: French
  • ISO code: BJ

Where Benin sits

Benin 🇧🇯 is one of 54 countries in Africa, with its capital at Porto-Novo. It covers 112,622 square kilometres — 100th in the world — and is home to about 13,352,864 people, 77th globally.

The countries it shares a continent with include Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Tanzania. If you are learning geography region by region — which works far better than alphabetically, because memory for places is spatial — those are the ones to learn alongside it.

How Benin compares

Raw figures are hard to hold on their own, so it helps to anchor them. In population, Benin sits closest to Rwanda and Burundi. In land area, its nearest counterparts are Honduras and Liberia.

At 119 people per square kilometre it is somewhat above the world average of 59.4. It ranks higher by population than by area, so it is more crowded than its size alone suggests.

French is an official language in 30 countries here, among them Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi and Cameroon, and 25 others. The XOF is shared with 7 other countries, including Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau and Ivory Coast, and 4 others.

To see Benin next to every other country, sort the country rankings by population, area or density; its currency and languages are listed alongside every other country's in world currencies and world languages.

How to remember Benin

Porto-Novo means 'new port' in Portuguese and is the official capital, but Cotonou is the largest city and where most of the government works. Quizzes usually want Porto-Novo.

The flag of Benin: green, yellow and red

🇧🇯 The flag is a green vertical band at the hoist, with yellow over red horizontal bands. Green stands for hope, yellow for wealth and red for courage. These are the Pan-African colours.

Region and neighbours

Benin is a narrow country in West Africa that stretches from the Gulf of Guinea north to the Niger River. It shares land borders with 4 countries: Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria.

Three facts about Benin

  1. Benin was called Dahomey until 1975, after the kingdom of Dahomey.
  2. The Royal Palaces of Abomey, built by the kings of Dahomey, are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
  3. Ganvié, a village built on stilts in Lake Nokoué, is one of the largest lake villages in Africa.

Sources: Wikipedia: Benin, Wikipedia: Flag of Benin, Wikipedia: Porto-Novo, CIA World Factbook.

Quiz yourself on Benin

Quizzes that include Benin

Three angles are worth covering for any country — where it is, what its flag looks like, and what its capital is. For Benin those are:

Doing all three for one continent before moving on is far more efficient than learning flags globally, then capitals globally, then the map.

Read more about Benin

Nearby countries

Frequently asked questions

What are the colours of the Benin flag?

The flag of Benin is a green vertical band at the hoist, with yellow over red horizontal bands. Green stands for hope, yellow for wealth and red for courage. These are the Pan-African colours.

Which countries border Benin?

Benin shares land borders with Togo, Burkina Faso, Niger and Nigeria.

How can I remember the capital of Benin?

Porto-Novo means 'new port' in Portuguese and is the official capital, but Cotonou is the largest city and where most of the government works. Quizzes usually want Porto-Novo.