Benin Map with Departments

Porto-Novo, in the Ouémé department, is Benin's capital under the constitution, and Cotonou, which forms the Littoral department, is the seat of government. Cotonou is also the largest city, and the presidency and most ministries sit there. Because both cities play a national role, the map marks each one with the national-capital symbol. Each of the 12 departments also has its own chef-lieu, a separate administrative seat fixed by a 2016 decree, for example Parakou for Borgou and Kandi for Alibori.

Benin has 12 departments: Alibori, Atacora, Atlantique, Borgou, Collines, Couffo, Donga, Littoral, Mono, Ouémé, Plateau and Zou. Article 4 of Loi n° 2021-14 of 20 December 2021 states the number, and it repeats the 12 set by a law of 15 January 1999. The departments are divided into 77 communes, and together they hold the 10,008,749 residents counted in the 2013 census. Older maps may show six departments, which was the count before 1999. Loi n° 2021-14 did not change the number.

No. Benin has 12 departments, not states, although some searches for Benin Republic use the word states. Each department is run by a prefect appointed by the government. Nigeria, Benin's eastern neighbor, does have states, and Nigerian searches often use that word for Benin's departments. Before 1999 Benin also used the word province for its six larger units. The 12 departments are the units drawn on this map. Departments are the only first-level division in force today, and the 77 communes sit below them as the second level.

Alibori is the largest department of Benin, with 26,242 km² according to INStaD's 2013 figures, and it is the only department that borders three countries: Niger, Burkina Faso and Nigeria. Borgou (25,856 km²) and Atacora (20,499 km²) are the only others above 20,000 km². These three departments together cover most of the national total of 114,763 km², the sum of the 12 department figures. The four coastal departments, Mono, Atlantique, Littoral and Ouémé, are among the smallest, from 79 km² for Littoral to 3,233 km² for Atlantique.

Littoral is the smallest department of Benin, with 79 km² in INStaD's 2013 figures. It is the same area as the city of Cotonou, since the department is a single commune. Littoral sits between Atlantique and Ouémé on the Atlantic coast, and part of its edge runs along Lake Nokoué. The next smallest department, Ouémé, has 1,281 km², which is more than 16 times as much. Mono, at 1,605 km², is the only other department under 2,000 km², and Couffo is next at 2,404 km².

Atlantique is the most populous department of Benin, with 1,398,229 people in the 2013 census (RGPH-4, INSAE). Only Borgou (1,214,249) and Ouémé (1,100,404) come close. Littoral fits 679,012 residents into 79 km², which makes it the most crowded. Mono has the fewest people, 497,243, about a third of Atlantique's count, and the 12 departments total 10,008,749. This is the latest departmental count available, because the fifth census had published no results by November 2026. Until it does, the 2013 figures stand.

A law of 15 January 1999 (Loi n° 97-028) split each of Benin's six older departments in two. The new departments were Alibori, Collines, Couffo, Donga, Littoral and Plateau, each taken from a larger one. Alibori, for example, was taken from Borgou, and Collines from Zou, so every new unit has one parent. In 2016 the six new departments received their own prefects and chefs-lieux by decree, with no change to boundaries. Loi n° 2021-14 then replaced the 1999 laws and kept the same 12 departments.

No. This map of Benin shows the 12 departments only. It does not draw the 77 communes inside them. Cotonou is the one commune that also forms a department, so the map shows it as Littoral, with no separate Cotonou outline. The six development poles announced on 23 September 2026 group communes for economic planning and do not change department or commune boundaries, so they are not drawn either. This map shows Benin's 12 departments, with Togo in grey on its western border. Togo's 5 regions have their own map.

Open the map in the Ultimaps editor, which is free and needs no account. Add one value per department, such as population or sales, and the map colors each department by its value. Pins, labels, sharing and embedding all work from the same editor, and each department can carry its own tooltip text, which viewers see on hover in a shared or embedded map. A free export is a standard PNG with a small Ultimaps credit. High-resolution PNG, SVG and PDF exports are part of the Pro plan.