Benin Benin Benin ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Benin () and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, and Burkina Faso and Niger to the north. The majority of its population lives on the small southern coastline of the Bight of Benin, part of the Gulf of Guinea in the northernmost tropical portion of the Atlantic Ocean. The capital of Benin is Porto-Novo, but the seat of government is in Cotonou, the country's largest city and economic capital. Benin covers an area of and its
Science and technology in Benin achieved universal primary education and half of children attended secondary school (54.2%). There was also a relatively high enrolment rate in tertiary education (12.4%), which was comparable with the rate in Ghana (12.2%) and second only to the subregional leader for this indicator, Cabo Verde (20.6%). The number of tertiary students more than doubled between 2006 and 2011 from 50,225 to 110,181. These figures cover all levels of tertiary education: post-secondary non-degree programmes, bachelor's and master's and PhD programmes The research sector has had little impact on technological progress in Benin and the rest of West Africa. Apart from obvious