Departments of Benin
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Benin
Benin
Benin , officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It borders Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. Its small southern coastline on the Bight of Benin is where a majority of the population is located...

 is divided into 12 departments
Department (subnational entity)
Department is the name given to the administrative and political subdivisions of many countries.As a territorial unit, "department" was first used by the French Revolutionary governments, apparently to emphasize that each territory was simply an administrative sub-division of the united sovereign...

 (French: départements), and subdivided into 77 communes (see Communes of Benin
Communes of Benin
The departments of Benin are subdivided into 77 communes, which in turn are divided into arrondissements and finally into villages or city districts. Prior to 1999 provinces were broken down into 84 districts, titled either urban or rural...

). In 1999, the previous six departments were each split into two halves, forming the current 12. The new six departments have been assigned a capital in 2008.
  1. Alibori
    Alibori Department
    Alibori is the largest and northernmost départements of Benin, with an area of 25,683 km² and a population of 355,950 . The department is subdivided into 6 communes, each centered at one of the principal towns: Banikoara, Gogounou, Kandi, Karimama, Malanville, and Ségbana. The department borders...

    *
  2. Atakora
    Atakora Department
    Atakora is the northwestern department of Benin, bordering Togo to the west and Burkina Faso to the north. Also, it borders the departments of Alibori, Borgou, and Donga. It is the most mountainous region of Benin, and the birth place of the president, Mathieu Kérékou...

  3. Atlantique
    Atlantique Department
    Atlantique is one of the twelve departments of Benin.Atlantique is divided into the communes of Abomey-Calavi, Allada, Kpomassè, Ouidah, Sô-Ava, Toffo, Tori-Bossito, and Zè.In 1999 the Littoral Department was split off from Atlantique....

  4. Borgou
    Borgou Department
    Borgou is one of the twelve departments of Benin. Borgou borders the country of Nigeria and the departments of Alibori, Atakora, Collines and Donga. The capital of Borgou is Parakou and the total area is 25,310 km.² or 9,772 mi.²....

  5. Collines
    Collines Department
    Collines is one of the twelve departments of Benin. Collines was created in 1999 after the Benin government split up the former six departments of Atakora, Atlantique, Borgou, Mono, Oueme and Zou into twelve. Collinies was split from Zou. Since 2008, the capital is Savalou. The departments that...

    *
  6. Kouffo
    Kouffo Department
    Kouffo is one of the twelve departments of Benin. The area of Kouffo is 2,404 km.² . Kouffo borders the country of Togo and it also borders the departments of Mono, Zou, and Atlantique. Since 2008, the capital is Aplahoué...

    *
  7. Donga
    Donga Department
    Donga is one of the twelve departments of Benin. Donga was created in 1999 when the government split up the original six departments into twelve. Donga was split from Atakora. The capital of Donga is Djougou. The total area is 10,691 km.² or 4,128mi.²....

    *
  8. Littoral
    Littoral Department
    Littoral is one of the twelve departments of Benin, and is divided into 13 arrondissements. It contains just one commune/city, Cotonou, the largest in the country and the economic capital. Littoral is the smallest of the twelve departments. The area is . Littoral was split from the Atlantique...

    *
  9. Mono
    Mono Department
    Mono is one of the twelve departments of Benin. The capital of this department is Lokossa. The department of Kouffo was part of Mono until 1999 when the Benin government split up some of the departments and made new departments. The Gen language is only spoken in this department in Benin...

  10. Ouémé
    Ouémé Department
    Ouémé is one of the twelve departments of Benin.In 1999 the northern part of the department was split off to form the new Plateau Department....

  11. Plateau
    Plateau Department
    Plateau is one of the twelve departments of Benin.Plateau is divided into the communes of Ifangni, Adja-Ouèrè, Kétou, Pobè and Sakété....

    *
  12. Zou
    Zou Department
    Zou is one of the twelve departments of Benin.Zou is divided into the communes of Abomey, Agbangnizoun, Bohicon, Cové, Djidja, Ouinhi, Za-Kpota, Zangnanado, and Zogbodomey....


*Formed in 1999

See also

  • Communes of Benin
    Communes of Benin
    The departments of Benin are subdivided into 77 communes, which in turn are divided into arrondissements and finally into villages or city districts. Prior to 1999 provinces were broken down into 84 districts, titled either urban or rural...

  • ISO 3166-2:BJ
    ISO 3166-2:BJ
    ISO 3166-2:BJ is the entry for Benin in ISO 3166-2, part of the ISO 3166 standard published by the International Organization for Standardization , which defines codes for the names of the principal subdivisions of all countries coded in ISO 3166-1.Currently for Benin, ISO 3166-2 codes are defined...

    , the ISO
    International Organization for Standardization
    The International Organization for Standardization , widely known as ISO, is an international standard-setting body composed of representatives from various national standards organizations. Founded on February 23, 1947, the organization promulgates worldwide proprietary, industrial and commercial...

    codes for the departments of Benin.
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