In Canada, in the province of Québec, we do not use the passé simple in spoken french. We use passé composé instead.

We do however use it in litterature. Even then, we see it as formal and a lot of contemporary novels are written using passé composé. I would even say that it sets the tone of a book.

My wife is from Benin and I’ve never heard people there use the passé simple in everyday life. I suppose it is also true for most of French-speaking West Africa. West Africans can have more “châtié” French than French people though.