Is there a war in Benin?

Yes. UCDP lists 1 active armed conflict with fighting recorded in Benin.

None at war level (1,000+ deaths in a year). Largest: Benin: Government, 149 deaths in 2025.

Updated 30 October 2026 · UCDP data through 30 September 2026 · View on map →

Deaths recorded in Benin in 2025

149in state-based fighting

0in fighting between armed groups

11in attacks on civilians (one-sided violence)

UCDP GED Global 26.1: best estimates for events located in Benin (as UCDP places them), by type of violence. The three are shown separately, as UCDP counts them, and are not added together here.

The conflict

Each conflict as UCDP defines it: a dispute with at least 25 battle-related deaths in a year. Figures are UCDP best estimates; the newest months are preliminary and can change. UCDP does not record who started each clash.

Armed conflictState-based conflict · UCDP start year 2020

Benin: Government

149deaths in 2025UCDP Battle-Related Deaths Dataset 26.1 (conflict level)

35deaths in Jan–Sep 2026preliminary · UCDP Candidate Events Dataset 26.01.26.09

284total 2022–2025sum of the UCDP yearly figures below (4 years listed)

Who is fighting: Government of Benin vs JNIM

2020highest: 1492026*

* Jan–Sep 2026, preliminary (hatched). Grey: year not in the dataset (UCDP lists a conflict-year only with at least 25 deaths).

Latest recorded fighting: July 2026

Conflict-wide figures (not only Benin). Also recorded in: Burkina Faso.

Figures by year

Year	Deaths (best estimate)
Jan–Sep 2026 preliminary	35
2025	149
2024	77
2023	28
2022	30

UCDP conflict page · CrisisWatch: Benin · War WATCH (legal classification) · View on map →

Military personnel

12,000own armed forces (2020)World Bank / IISS · active + paramilitary

Foreign military personnel in Benin

United States8

assigned · 31 Aug 2026 · DoD DMDC

Other countries may have forces here; only official, reusable figures are shown.

Other countries with active armed conflicts in Africa

Angola Burkina Faso Burundi Cameroon Central African Republic Chad DR Congo Ethiopia Ghana Kenya Mali Mozambique Niger Nigeria Rwanda Somalia South Africa South Sudan Sudan Togo

All countries →

Sources and licences

Conflicts and deaths: Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP), ucdp.uu.se/downloads, CC BY 4.0. Data through 30 September 2026.
Military personnel: World Bank, Armed forces personnel, total (MS.MIL.TOTL.P1); original source IISS, The Military Balance; CC BY 4.0.
Foreign military personnel: UN Department of Peace Operations, uniformed personnel contributions (UN Peace and Security Data Hub, via HDX) (as of 31 Jul 2026, CC BY-IGO 3.0); UK Ministry of Defence, Annual Location Statistics, table 1.1b (as of 1 Apr 2026, Open Government Licence v3.0); Ministère des Armées, Les chiffres clés de la Défense 2026, p.20 (État-major des armées, April 2026) (as of Apr 2026, Licence Ouverte / Etalab 2.0); DoD Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC), Location Report (as of 31 Aug 2026, US government work, public domain).
Protests: The GDELT Project, GDELT 2.0 Event Database; automated, unverified.
Links only (nothing copied): CrisisWatch (© International Crisis Group), GOV.UK travel advice (OGL v3.0), U.S. Department of State (public domain), War WATCH (Geneva Academy), ReliefWeb (UN OCHA).

🇧🇯Is there a war in Benin?