Benin
Benin is one of the 193 UN member states, in Western Africa. UN Tourism counted 337,000 international arrivals there in 2019, rarer than 81% of the 199 places with figures, so its stamp in Globestamp is printed in Prism.
- International arrivals
- 337,000in 2019, UN Tourism
- Rank by visitors
- 162nd of 199most visited first
- Stamp finish
- Prismrarer than 81%
- Area
- 116,591 km² (45,016 sq mi)
- Population
- 11.8 millionNatural Earth estimate
- Departments
- 12in Globestamp’s regions layer
- Airports
- 1with scheduled flights
- World Heritage Sites
- 2on Globestamp’s list
Does Benin count as a country?
Yes. Benin is one of the 193 UN member states, so every common list counts it: the UN’s 193, Globestamp’s 250 and the Travelers’ Century Club’s 330.
| List | Counts Benin? |
|---|---|
| UN member states (193) | Yes, a member |
| Globestamp’s countries and territories (250) | Yes |
| Travelers’ Century Club (330) | Yes, as Benin |
| European Union | No |
| Schengen area | No |
The Benin stamp
Every country in Globestamp has its own stamp, drawn after a real entry stamp. Its finish shows how few travelers get there. Benin’s is Prism: the full spectrum with glints, the finish for places with 50,000 to 500,000 visitors a year. With 337,000 international arrivals in 2019, Benin is rarer than 81% of the 199 places with figures. See every stamp on the stamp wall, or the rarest on the least-visited countries.
What counts as a visit to Benin
The common rule among travelers is that you set foot there: an airport layover usually doesn’t count, and a port where you went ashore does. Globestamp counts Benin when one of your photos was taken on its ground, or just off its coast; a photo taken from a plane never counts. With a single airport with scheduled flights (Cotonou Cadjehoun International Airport, COO), photos only at the airport make a transit stamp, counted only if you count layovers. Read more in how to count the countries you’ve visited.
Places in Benin you can collect
Under the country itself, Globestamp keeps layers of places on your globe, and a photo taken at one ticks it. These are the ones it knows in Benin, from 2 World Heritage Sites.
World Heritage Sites 2
Royal Palaces of Abomey (1985) · W-Arly-Pendjari Complex (1996). On the bucket list →
National parks 2
W National Park · Pendjari National Park. On the bucket list →
Botanical gardens 2
Musée en Plein Air de Parakou · Papatia Botanical Garden. On the bucket list →
Largest cities
| City | People (urban area) |
|---|---|
| Cotonou | 762,000 |
| Porto-Novo | 300,000 |
| Djougou | 202,810 |
| Parakou | 188,853 |
| Kandi | 109,701 |
| Lokossa | 86,971 |
| Ouidah | 83,503 |
| Abomey | 82,154 |
Airports
Benin has 1 airport with scheduled flights. Each is a dot on Globestamp’s airports layer, and every flight you log adds to how far you’ve flown (try the flight distance calculator).
12 departments to fill in
Globestamp goes deeper than countries: its regions layer splits Benin into 12 departments (Natural Earth’s first-level divisions), and each one fills in when a photo was taken there.
All 12
Alibori · Atakora · Atlantique · Borgou · Collines · Donga · Kouffo · Littoral · Mono · Ouémé · Plateau · Zou
Questions people ask
Is Benin a country?
Yes. Benin is one of the 193 UN member states, so every common list counts it: the UN’s 193, Globestamp’s 250 and the Travelers’ Century Club’s 330.
How many tourists visit Benin a year?
UN Tourism (via the World Bank) counted 337,000 international arrivals in Benin in 2019, the 162nd most of the 199 places with figures. Countries count arrivals in different ways (some include day-trippers and cruise passengers), so treat it as a rough rank rather than an exact number of tourists.
How rare is a Benin stamp in Globestamp?
It is printed in Prism, the finish for places with 50,000 to 500,000 visitors a year, rarer than 81% of the places with figures. The fewer travelers a place receives, the rarer its finish, from plain Ink to Mythic.
Does Benin count for the Travelers’ Century Club?
Yes. The Travelers’ Century Club counts it as “Benin”, one of its 330 destinations.
Places as rare as Benin
Near Benin
Sources
- Countries, cities and regions: Natural Earth 10m admin-0 (public domain); lists as of October 2026.
- Visitors: UN Tourism via the World Bank, ST.INT.ARVL (International tourism, number of arrivals), CC BY 4.0, data updated 2026-10-08. Each country's latest year before 2020. Countries count visitors differently; use as a rough rank.
- World Heritage Sites, parks, landmarks and the bucket-list places: Wikidata (CC0), as compiled in the app, October 2026.
- Airports: OurAirports (public domain), airports with scheduled service.
- Travelers’ Century Club: the club’s list of 330 destinations, as of January 2022.