The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution supporting the use of a world map designed to represent the relative size of continents more accurately, giving greater visual prominence to Africa and other regions that appear smaller on traditional maps.
The resolution, approved on Friday with the support of 164 countries, promotes the Equal Earth projection as an alternative to the widely used Mercator projection. The United States voted against the resolution, while six countries abstained.
According to the resolution, the Equal Earth map aims to improve the “accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world.”
Why is the UN changing the world map?
The move centres on the limitations of the Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 primarily for maritime navigation.
While the Mercator projection preserves angles and shapes, it significantly distorts the relative size of landmasses. Regions closer to the poles appear much larger than they are in reality.
As a result, Europe and North America can appear disproportionately large, while Africa and South America look smaller relative to their actual areas.
The Equal Earth projection, developed by a group of cartographers and introduced in 2018, seeks to preserve the relative surface areas of continents while maintaining recognisable shapes.
Togo pushes for a more accurate map
Togo sponsored the UN resolution, arguing that maps influence how people perceive the world.
Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said maps influence education, imagination and collective perceptions, adding that inaccurate representations can be passed from one generation to another.
The initiative has also received support from France, which co-sponsored the resolution.
Why did the US oppose the resolution?
The United States criticised the initiative and argued that the UN General Assembly should focus on more urgent global challenges.
US representative Yaryna Ferencevych questioned the value of debating historical map projections and their connection to issues such as reparations and “cognitive justice”.
She said such initiatives contribute to concerns over the credibility of the UN institution.
The resolution nevertheless secured overwhelming support, with 164 countries voting in favour.
How does the Equal Earth map differ?
The Equal Earth projection gives Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania greater visual prominence compared with the Mercator projection.
Cartographer Bojan Savric, one of the projection’s developers, previously said the design preserves the relative surface areas of continents while showing their shapes as closely as possible to their appearance on a globe.
The key difference is therefore not the geography itself, but how the three-dimensional Earth is represented on a two-dimensional map.
France announces shift away from Mercator
France announced that it would abandon the Mercator projection following the UN vote.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said Mercator gives countries such as the United States, Russia and China disproportionate visual prominence compared with Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
He also pointed to the familiar example of Greenland appearing almost as large as Africa on some Mercator maps despite being substantially smaller in area.
“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world,” Barrot said, while arguing that correcting distorted representation is an important step.
The development comes as France seeks to strengthen its relations with African countries, including former colonies where ties have faced tensions.
