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How the crowd draws

307 drawings of its land border and 715 drawings of its coast, from memory on Borderline’s World map, 21 September 2026 to 27 October 2026.

Draw Benin

In numbers

Last updated on 27 October 2026
The real oneThe crowd’s
Area117,000 km²45,000 sq mi108,000 km²42,000 sq mi7.6% smaller
Outline1,986 km1,234 mi1,956 km1,215 mi1.5% shorter
Centre2.33° E, 9.63° N2.3° E, 9.6° N2.44° E, 9.60° N2.4° E, 9.6° N13 km east8 mi east
Westernmost0.76° E, 10.41° N0.8° E, 10.4° N0.97° E, 10.91° N1.0° E, 10.9° N23 km short14 mi short
Easternmost3.84° E, 10.65° N3.8° E, 10.6° N3.76° E, 10.64° N3.8° E, 10.6° N8 km short5 mi short
Southernmost1.62° E, 6.21° N1.6° E, 6.2° N2.80° E, 6.28° N2.8° E, 6.3° N7 km short5 mi short
Northernmost2.85° E, 12.40° N2.8° E, 12.4° N2.79° E, 12.33° N2.8° E, 12.3° N7 km short4 mi short

Near the land border, 56% of the crowd’s lines run inside Benin. Near the coast, 53% run inland.

Borders and coast

Why two lengths?

A line’s length depends on how closely it is drawn. The game’s lines are simplified: they keep a point every few kilometres and cut across small bends. The official lengths, from the CIA World Factbook, are measured on other lines. A border measured on a finer line, following every bend of its rivers and ridges, comes out longer.

Coasts differ most, and either way. Some official coastlines follow every inlet and island (Canada’s 202,080 km); others are smoothed on purpose, crossing bays and sounds (the United States’ 19,924 km), and can come out shorter than the game’s.

Players draw against the game’s line and are scored against it, so the crowd’s length is compared with the game’s, both measured the same way. Set against an official length measured another way, the comparison would say more about the two methods than about the crowd.

Benin and Nigeria: 687 km in the game, 809 km officially.

Benin’s coast: 122 km in the game, 121 km officially.

4 neighbours
Border withIn the gameThe crowd’s
Nigeria687 km in the game809 km officially716 km the crowd’s4.2% longer
Togo609 km in the game651 km officially564 km the crowd’s7.4% shorter
Burkina Faso222 km in the game386 km officially213 km the crowd’s4.1% shorter
Niger207 km in the game277 km officially203 km the crowd’s1.9% shorter
The coast122 km in the game121 km officially85 km the crowd’s30.3% shorter

How it is measured

The crowd’s Benin: every few km along the real line, each drawing’s nearest point, inside Benin or outside it; the median over a short stretch is where the crowd puts the line there, and the real outline moved by it is the crowd’s. Where the move folds a narrow inlet over itself, the loop is cut.

The 1,022 drawings that scored 10 or more on Borderline’s World map, scribbles left out, the real line the game’s own. Area true to scale; the outline copies the real line’s detail, so its length changes only where the shape moves or a loop is cut. The map lays the 1,000 most recent; the heat map, the crowd’s shape and every figure use all 1,022.

Draw Benin yourself and add your line to the next update.