than Pennsylvania

Land boundaries: total: 1,989 km border countries: Burkina Faso 306 km,
Niger 266 km, Nigeria 773 km, Togo 644 km

Coastline: 121 km

Maritime claims: territorial sea: 200 NM

Climate: tropical; hot, humid in south; semiarid in north

Terrain: mostly flat to undulating plain; some hills and low mountains

Elevation extremes: lowest point: Atlantic Ocean 0 m highest point:
Mont Sokbaro 658 m

Natural resources: small offshore oil deposits, limestone, marble, timber

Land use: arable land: 15% permanent crops: 1% other: 84% (1998 est.)

Irrigated land: 120 sq km (1998 est.)

Natural hazards: hot, dry, dusty harmattan wind may affect north from
December to March

Environment - current issues: 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: sandbanks create difficult access to a coast with no
natural harbors, river mouths, or islands

People Benin

Population: 6,787,625 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 2002 est.)

Age structure: 0-14 years: 47.2% (male 1,616,138; female 1,585,463)
15-64 years: 50.5% (male 1,665,439; female 1,764,966) 65 years and over:
2.3% (male 65,877; female 89,742) (2002 est.)

Population growth rate: 2.91% (2002 est.)

Birth rate: 43.66 births/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Death rate: 14.52 deaths/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Net migration rate: 0 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2002 est.)

Sex ratio: at birth: 1.03 male(s)/female under 15 years: 1.02
male(s)/female 15-64 years: 0.94 male(s)/female 65 years and over:
0.73 male(s)/female total population: 0.97 male(s)/female (2002 est.)

Infant mortality rate: 88.52 deaths/1,000 live births (2002 est.)

Life expectancy at birth: 50.61 years (2002 est.) male: Total fertility
rate: 6.14 children born/woman (2002 est.)