How many people live in Benin right now?
Right now, according to UN estimates
15,283,187
| Today | In 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Births | · | · |
| Deaths | · | · |
| Growth | · | · |
2026 figures
- Rank by population
- 76 of 237
- Share of world population
- 0.18%
- Median age
- 18.2 years
- Children per woman
- 4.34
- Life expectancy
- 61.3 years
- People per km²
- 135
According to UN estimates, about 15.3 million people live in Benin right now. It ranks 76th out of 237 countries and territories by population, between Guinea and Rwanda, and it is home to one in every 545 people on the planet.
Every day, about 1,400 people are born there and about 360 die. Overall, the population grows by about 980 people a day (2.36% a year).
In 1950, about 2.3 million people lived there. Today there are 6.8 times as many. The UN expects it to keep growing for the rest of the century. By 2050 it is projected to have about 24.4 million people (60% more than today), and by 2100 about 39.6 million.
Half of its people are younger than 18 (worldwide, 31). Women have an average of 4.34 children each, above the 2.1 needed for each generation to replace the one before, and life expectancy at birth is 61 years (worldwide, 74). There are 135 people per square kilometer.
UN estimates up to today and projections (medium variant) from today onward.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the population of Benin in 2026?
- Benin has about 15.3 million people right now, according to the UN's World Population Prospects 2024. On July 1, 2026, there were 15,170,420.
- How many people are born each day in Benin?
- About 1,400 a day (494,000 a year). About 360 people die each day (130,000 a year).
- Is the population of Benin growing?
- Yes: it grows by 2.36% a year, or about 358,000 people.
- What will the population of Benin be in 2050?
- According to the UN projection (medium variant), about 24.4 million.
- Why doesn't this figure match the country's official statistics?
- The UN estimates the population of every country with the same method, based on censuses, surveys and registers, and projects it year by year. Each national statistics office uses its own censuses and registers, which may be more up to date or count foreign residents differently. That is why the figures can differ slightly.
Countries with a similar population
- Cambodia 18,113,972
- Zimbabwe 17,376,471
- Guinea 15,549,506
- Rwanda 14,991,731
- Burundi 14,838,416
- Bolivia 12,801,716
More countries in Africa
- Nigeria 243,986,051
- Ethiopia 139,989,395
- Egypt 120,651,452
- Democratic Republic of the Congo 117,604,305
- Tanzania 73,203,947
- South Africa 65,670,767
- Kenya 58,985,433
- Sudan 53,735,007
- Uganda 53,195,464
- Algeria 48,206,547
- Angola 40,591,327
- Morocco 38,862,746
All countries and territories →
Where these figures come from
The figures are estimates from the United Nations Population Division, published in World Population Prospects 2024 (medium variant): the reference used by international organizations and by most population counters. The UN estimates how many people there are on July 1 of each year and how many are born, die and migrate; between one date and the next, this counter spreads the change continuously, second by second.
It is not a real-time headcount: nobody can count every person in a country at once. It is the best available estimate, and it may differ slightly from the figures of each country's statistics office, which use their own censuses and population registers.