UN Endorses Push for Maps That Show Africa at Its True Scale
NEW YORK — The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution backing a world map that shows Africa closer to its actual size, handing
NEW YORK — The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution backing a world map that shows Africa closer to its actual size, handing a symbolic win to a long-running campaign against the Mercator projection. The vote on Friday passed 164-1, with six countries abstaining; the United States was the only country to oppose it.
The measure was introduced by Togo on behalf of the African Group, the 54 African member states at the U.N., and had support from the African Union. It does not force governments or schools to abandon the Mercator map. But it does encourage wider use of equal-area projections such as Equal Earth, which are designed to show countries and continents in their true relative size.
A map that shaped the world
The Mercator projection dates to 1569, when Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator created it for navigation. Sailors needed straight lines that could help chart courses across oceans. That was the point. Accuracy of size was not.
Over time, the map became a classroom staple and a familiar fixture in newsrooms and offices around the world. Critics say that familiarity came at a cost. Regions near the equator appear much smaller than they really are, while areas farther from it swell in size.
Africa is the clearest example. On the Mercator map, it can look roughly comparable to Greenland. In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger. That gap has fed years of criticism from cartographers, educators and African officials who say distorted maps can quietly distort perception too.
Why the vote matters
Before the vote, Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said maps do more than plot coastlines and borders. “Maps shape our understanding of the world. They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions,” he said. He added: “It’s time for us in Africa to take responsibility to change what we can change ourselves.”
The resolution is not legally binding, but its language carries political weight. For supporters, the vote is about more than cartography. It is about how people learn geography, how students picture power and scale, and how a centuries-old European projection still frames the modern world.
With 164 countries in favor and only one against, the message from the General Assembly was unmistakable. The question now is how far schools, publishers and institutions will move toward Equal Earth and other maps that put Africa in proportion with the rest of the globe.
