UN General Assembly Endorses New World Map Showing Africa’s True Size

The United Nations General Assembly has endorsed a new world map designed to represent Africa and other continents more accurately, marking a significant development in a campaign led by African countries and advocacy groups.

The resolution, sponsored by Togo and supported by members of the African Union, was adopted with 164 countries voting in favour. The United States was the only country to vote against it, while Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine abstained.

The resolution encourages governments, schools and institutions to consider replacing the traditional Mercator projection with the Equal Earth projection. However, it does not ban the Mercator map or make the Equal Earth projection mandatory.

The debate centres on how different map projections can influence people’s understanding of the size and importance of countries and continents.

The Mercator projection, which has been widely used since the 16th century, was originally developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to assist sailors with navigation. While it remains useful for maritime purposes, critics argue that it significantly distorts the relative size of landmasses.

One of the most frequently cited examples is the comparison between Africa and Greenland. On many Mercator maps, Greenland appears almost comparable in size to Africa. In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland.

The Equal Earth projection, introduced in 2018, was developed to provide a more accurate representation of the relative sizes of continents while maintaining a visually balanced world map.

Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey argued that maps play an important role in shaping how people understand the world. He said correcting distorted representations could also help correct perceptions about Africa and other regions.

Africa No Filter, one of the organisations involved in campaigning for greater use of accurate world maps, welcomed the UN resolution. The organisation called for the Equal Earth projection to appear more frequently in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and digital platforms.

Supporters of the resolution have also argued that the issue extends beyond geography. They believe that repeatedly presenting Africa as smaller than it actually is can contribute to outdated perceptions about the continent’s geographical scale.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also welcomed the decision, noting that changing a map would not change the world but correcting a distorted representation could be viewed as an act of truth.

Geographers have stressed, however, that no two-dimensional map can perfectly represent the three-dimensional Earth without some form of distortion. Different projections are therefore designed for different purposes.

The Mercator projection remains particularly useful for navigation because of the way it represents direction. Outside maritime navigation, critics argue that projections such as Equal Earth can provide a more meaningful representation of continental size.

The UN’s decision does not force countries to abandon the Mercator projection. Instead, it encourages wider consideration of maps that more accurately reflect the actual proportions of the world’s landmasses.