Military branches:
Army, Navy, Air Force
Military service age and obligation: 21 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; in practice, volunteers may be taken at the age of 18; both sexes are eligible for military service; conscript tour of duty - 18 months (2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 21-49: 1,207,071
females age 21-49: 1,216,180 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 21-49: 670,170
females age 21-49: 630,078 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 72,841
females: 71,428 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$96.5 million (2004)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.4% (2004)
Transnational Issues Benin
Disputes - international:
two villages remain in dispute along the border with Burkina Faso;
accuses Burkina Faso of moving boundary pillars; much of Benin-Niger
boundary, including tripoint with Nigeria, remains undemarcated, and
the states expect a ruling in 2005 from the ICJ over the disputed
Niger and Mekrou River islands; a joint task force was established
in 2004 that resolved disputes over and redrew the maritime and the
870-km land boundary with Nigeria, including the sovereignty over
seven villages along the Okpara River; a joint boundary commission
continues to resurvey the boundary with Togo to verify Benin's claim
that Togo moved boundary stones
Illicit drugs:
transshipment point for narcotics associated with Nigerian
trafficking organizations and most commonly destined for Western
Europe and the US; vulnerable to money laundering due to a poorly
regulated financial infrastructure