TOTAL POPULATION 7,250,000
CHILD POPULATION 3,335,000 |
Population Reference Bureau -2004 |
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TOTAL CHILD LABOUR
26%* of children aged 5-14 years are involved in child labor as per UNICEF |
State of World's Children 2005, UNICEF |
| In 2001, the ILO estimated that 26.3 percent of children ages 10 to 14 in Benin were working. |
The US Dept. of Labor's 2003 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. |
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ECONOMICALLY ACTIVE POPULATION
For the year 2010, there are estimated to be 3,825,000 economically active people. 255,000 children aged 10-14 constituting 24.5% of children in this age group are estimated to be economically active. |
ILO, Bureau of Statistics, Economically Active Population |
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GENDER RATIO
1020 females for 1000 males |
CIA, factbook-2005 (Fig is an estimate for 2005) |
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CHILDREN OUT OF SCHOOL
In 2001, 307,600 children aged 6-11 were out of school |
UNESCO's EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005 |
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PROGRESS ON PRIMARY EDUCATION MDG
With an EDI of 0.623, Benin's progress towards achieving education for all by 2015 is low |
UNESCO's EFA Global Monitoring Report 2005 |
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CHILD SLAVERY
In Benin, children as young as 7 years old have been observed working on family farms, in small businesses, on construction sites in urban areas, in public markets, and in domestic servitude. Families facing extreme poverty placed children in the care of “an agent” believing that the child would work as a farm hand or a domestic worker and that the wages from this labor would be sent back to the family.
Trafficked children often work as agricultural workers, domestic servants, and commercial sex workers. |
US Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2004, February 2005 |
Children were trafficked to Ghana, Nigeria, and Gabon for indentured or domestic servitude, farm labor, and prostitution.
Hundreds of children were taken across the border to Togo and Cote d'Ivoire to work on plantations. Children from Niger, Togo, and Burkina Faso have been trafficked to the country for indentured or domestic servitude. |
US Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2004, February 2005 |
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CHILD TRAFFICKING
Benin is a source, transit, and destination country for children trafficked for the purposes of forced labor and sexual exploitation. Beninese children are trafficked to Nigeria, Ghana, Gabon, Cote d’Ivoire, and Cameroon for forced labor and prostitution. |
US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2005 |
| Benin is a source, destination and transit country for the cross border trafficking of children. Children from Benin are trafficked into Ghana, Gabon, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and Cameroon; children from Burkina Faso, Niger, and Togo are sold into servitude in Benin. |
The US Dept. of Labor's 2003 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. |
| According to UNICEF, four distinct forms of trafficking occur in the country. "Trafic don" where the children are given to a migrant family member or stranger for vocational training or education. "Trafic gage" which is a form of indentured servitude, "Trafic ouvrier" involved children of ages 6 years to 12 years, and they worked as artisans, construction laborers, or agricultural or domestic workers. This is the most common variant, estimated to be 75 percent of the total traffic of the three provinces UNICEF surveyed in 2000. Finally, "trafic vente" is the outright sale of children. |
US Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2004, February 2005 |
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CHILD PROSTITUTION & PRONOGRAPHY
Child prostitution mainly involved girls whose poor families urged them to become prostitutes to provide income. Such children were abused sexually by teachers who sought sex for better grades and lured to exchange sex for money by older men who acted as their "protectors". |
US Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2004, February 2005 |
| The traditional practice of “vidomegon,” whereby poor children are placed with wealthy families, has resulted in some labor and sexual exploitation. |
US Dept. of State, Trafficking in Persons Report 2005 |
| There are also reports of children in Benin working in the sex industry as prostitutes, with children from poor families and street children being particularly vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation. |
The US Dept. of Labor's 2003 Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labour. |
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CHILDREN USED IN CRIME
No Confirmed Data |
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CHILD SOLDIERS
There were no reports of under-18s in the armed forces. The minimum age for conscription or voluntary enlistment is 21. |
CSUCS, Global Report on Child Soldiers, 2004 |
CHILD LABOUR IN UNORGANISED SECTOR
To help support their families, children of both sexes including those as young as 7 years old continued to work on rural family farms, in small businesses, on construction sites in urban areas, in public markets as street vendors, and as domestic servants under the practice of vidomegon. |
US Dept. of State, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices- 2004, February 2005 |
