Benin

Health and Environment

Benin's population of 7,460,025 is seriously threatened by a 1.9 percent HIV/AIDS rate that caused 5,800 deaths by 2003. Another 68,000 Beninese have been diagnosed with the disease. Benin has a shortage of potable water. Some 32 percent of the population lacks sustained access to safe drinking water, and 68 of Beninese do not have access to improved sanitation (12 percent in rural areas). This lack of safe water and basic sanitation has created a very high risk of contracting food and waterborne diseases, including typhoid fever and hepatitis A. Beninese are also at risk for contracting meningococcal meningitis, a respiratory disease. In some areas, the risk of contracting vectorborne diseases such as malaria and yellow fever is also high.

Because of the high disease rate, the Beninese experience low life expectancy (53.04 years) and high infant mortality (79.56 deaths per 1,000 live births) and death rates (12.22/1,000). Thus, the population grows at a rate of only 2.73 percent. The Benin fertility rate is extremely high at 5.9 children per female. Low literacy rates (46.4 percent for males and 22.6 percent for females) make the dissemination of health and environmental information difficult. The United Nations Development Project (UNDP) Human Development Reports rank Benin 162 of 232 countries on overall quality-of-life issues.

In 2006, scientists at Yale University ranked Benin 84 of 132 countries on environmental performance, slightly above the comparable income and geographic groups. Desertification is spreading in Benin, and deforestation occurs at a rate of 2.3 percent each year. Approximately 247,000 acres of forest have been cleared to provide fuel, as there is no other source of energy for cooking and heating. These problems are particularly severe in the arid areas of the north. The government has protected 11.4 percent of land area. Of 188 mammal species identified in Benin, eight are endangered, as are two of 112 bird species. Wildlife populations are at great risk from poaching.

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