There are numerous lakes in the country and the vegetation is luxurious and the soil fertile. The country has a population of 5,000,000, composed of approximately fifty ethnic groups. The main ones are the Fon and Aja in the south, the Yoruba in the central region, and the Somo and Peulh in the north. The economic capital is Cotonou while the political one is Porto-Novo. There is considerable smuggling from Nigeria, primarily of oil products.
Labor is available and cheap in the country and there is substantial unemployment.
As a result, the government is working to develop economic activities to generate employment. It is, for example, providing access to the port of Cotonou to its landlocked neighbors at advantageous rates. The policy has been given impetus by the troubles in neighboring Togo. Benin is a former French colony, which became independent in the early 1960s. After the first decade of independence, Mathieu Kerekou became President through a military coup, and established a Marxist-Leninist regime.