Majority of citizens say the government should invest more in preparations for future health emergencies.
Key findings
- About one in eight Beninese (12%) reported that a member of their household lost a primary source of income due to the pandemic, while 1% said someone in the household became ill with COVID-19 or tested positive for the virus.
- More than half (52%) of Beninese said they had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.
- About one-quarter (24%) of respondents said they were unlikely to try to get vaccinated.
- More than two-thirds (68%) of Beninese said the government was doing “fairly well” or “very well” in managing the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Large majorities also expressed satisfaction with the government’s efforts to minimise disruptions to children’s education (70%) and to ensure that health facilities were adequately resourced (62%).
- Three-fourths (75%) of citizens saw their government as “somewhat” or “very” well prepared to deal with future public health emergencies.
After Benin reported its first COVID-19 case on 16 March 2020, the government implemented a variety of measures to limit the spread of the virus, including a partial lockdown (the so-called “cordon sanitaire“), closing of schools, suspension of public gatherings, compulsory wearing of face masks in public, and limited overland travel (International Monetary Fund, 2021; Dedewanou, 2024). Starting in March 2021, 4.23 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine were administered, providing 30% of the population with at least one dose (World Health Organization, 2025).
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Hitting in two major waves, the pandemic produced 28,036 COVID-19 cases and 163 deaths in Benin (World Health Organization, 2025). The government provided cash transfers and subsidised utility bills, among other measures, to try to ease the pandemic’s economic shocks to vulnerable households (Honlonkou, Bassongui, & Daraté, 2024; Heffernan, 2022).
This dispatch reports on a special survey module included in the Afrobarometer Round 9 survey to explore the pandemic-related experiences and perceptions of citizens in Benin.
Findings show that while about one in eight Benin households lost a major source of income due to the pandemic, only one in 20 received pandemic-related assistance from the government, and most saw the distribution of assistance as unfair.
Overall, however, a majority of citizens approved of the government’s response to the pandemic and saw it as prepared to deal with future public health emergencies.
Wallelign S. Hassen is a researcher at the University of Florida.
