Country profile · Sub-Saharan Africa · Lower middle income
Benin
Every figure below carries its global rank and its history — and a plain line on what the number means. Figures: World Bank, World Development Indicators (open data), retrieved 2026-07-27.
At a glance
Latest available year per indicator
GDP · 2025
$24.6 bn
125th largest of 214
The size of the economy — everything produced in a year. The headline number every other figure argues with.
GDP growth · 2025
8.1%
12th fastest-growing of 214
How fast output is expanding, inflation-adjusted. Growth without jobs or wages is where the story usually hides.
GDP per capita · 2025
$1,658
180th highest of 214
Output per person — the rough proxy for average living standards, and an average that hides a lot.
Inflation (CPI) · 2025
1.1%
150th highest of 193
How fast consumer prices rise. What it understates for poorer households is half the story.
Unemployment · 2025
1.6%
175th highest of 187
The share of the labour force seeking work without finding it — and it counts precarious work as 'employed'.
Population · 2025
14.8 mn
75th largest of 217
The denominator of everything per-capita.
Exports · 2025
17.1%
163rd highest of 193
How much of the economy is sold to the world — openness, measured on the way out.
Imports · 2025
20.1%
178th highest of 193
How much of demand is met from abroad — openness, measured on the way in.
FDI, net inflows · 2024
2.5%
84th highest of 202
Long-term foreign investment into real assets — a confidence signal that is hard to fake and slow to reverse.
Total reserves
No recent data reported
The central bank's war chest for defending the currency and paying for imports.
Current account · 2023
-8.2%
168th highest of 200
The broadest external balance — trade plus income and remittances. Persistent deficits must be financed.
Government debt
No recent data reported
What the state owes relative to the economy carrying it. Reported patchily — gaps here are common.
Exchange rate · 2025
581.9
31st highest of 213
How many units of local currency a dollar buys — a running vote of confidence.
Gini index · 2021
34.4
90th most unequal of 171
Inequality in one number: 0 is perfect equality, 100 is one person holding everything. Surveyed rarely.
Life expectancy · 2024
61.0
209th highest of 217
The single most honest summary of whether an economy serves its people.
Extreme poverty · 2021
27.2%
35th highest of 171
The share of people living below the international extreme-poverty line — the floor beneath every other economic statistic.
What these indicators can — and cannot — tell you: Economics, Explained
The long view
1990 – latest
Put Benin next to any other economy — open the comparison desk — or see where it sits on the world heat map.