Seasonal labor migration, to both Nigeria and Ghana, is considerable and of long duration, but estimates of its extent are not available. Thousands of Beninese were expelled from Nigeria in early 1983, and thousands were expelled from Gabon in 1977–78. In 1995, there were 70,000 refugees from Togo in Benin. In June 1998, Benin and Burkina Faso became the first African countries to take in refugees approved by UNHCR for resettlement.
The total number of migrants living in Benin in 2000 was 101,000, which included the 4,300 refugees. The net migration rate for 2000 was -3.2 per 1,000 population, amounting to a loss of approximately 19,000 individuals. Worker remittances totaled $70 million that year.