Benin ( or ; ), 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. A majority of the population live on its small southern coastline on 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 114,763 square kilometers and its population in 2015 was estimated to be approximately 10.88 million. Benin is a
tropical,
sub-Saharan nation, highly dependent on
agriculture, with substantial employment and income arising from
subsistence farming.