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UN Votes to Correct the World Map as Africa Fights Back Against Mercator Distortion
Unlike Mercator, an equal-area projection attempts to preserve the relative areas of landmasses. Africa consequently appears dramatically larger compared with Europe, Greenland and other northern regions. The United States was the only country to vote against the measure
The UN General Assembly voted 164-1, with six abstentions, to adopt the “Correct the Map” resolution, encouraging governments, schools, international organisations and technology companies to use map projections that represent the relative size of continents more accurately. The United States was the only country to vote against the measure.
The UN resolution on the map is not legally binding, and it does not ban the Mercator projection. Instead, it promotes the use of equal-area projections, including the Equal Earth projection, when accurately showing the size of landmasses is the priority.
Africa’s “Small” Map Problem Finally Explodes
The controversy centres on the Mercator projection, created by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.
The world map was never designed to accurately compare the size of continents. Its great strength was navigation: straight lines could represent constant compass directions, making it useful to sailors.
But there was a major trade-off.
The farther a landmass is from the Equator, the more dramatically its apparent size can be enlarged. That is why Greenland can appear comparable to Africa on a Mercator projection based map despite being vastly smaller.
Africa covers roughly 30.4 million square kilometres, while Greenland is about 2.2 million square kilometres. Africa is therefore around 14 times larger.
Yet generations of students have seen maps where the two can look surprisingly similar.
“A Fair World Begins With a Fair Map”
Togo spearheaded the UN resolution on Correct the Map with backing from African Union countries.
Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey argued that maps do far more than show geography. They can influence how people understand the importance, scale and position of entire regions.
“A fair map does not change the geography of the world, it changes how we see the world,” he said.
The UN resolution similarly argues that cartographic distortions can influence perceptions of the relative importance of different regions.
The campaign has therefore evolved into something much bigger than a technical argument among cartographers.
For supporters, UN Correct the Map resolution is about challenging a visual representation that has shaped education and perceptions of Africa for generations.
Equal Earth Takes Centre Stage
The proposed alternative is the Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018.
Unlike Mercator, an equal-area projection attempts to preserve the relative areas of landmasses. Africa consequently appears dramatically larger compared with Europe, Greenland and other northern regions. The United States was the only country to vote against the measure
The African Union’s 54 member states backed the Equal Earth approach earlier this year, describing it as a more accurate representation of continental sizes.
But the UN vote deliberately stopped short of imposing one specific map.
India, for example, backed the resolution while stressing that it should encourage equal-area approaches without requiring countries to adopt Equal Earth specifically.
America Says the UN Has Bigger Problems
The overwhelming vote was not without controversy.
The United States rejected the resolution, arguing that the UN General Assembly was focusing on an issue it regarded as secondary to the body’s core responsibilities.
The US representative described the initiative as part of a broader ideological project and criticised references to concepts such as “cognitive justice” and reparations.
The vote also exposed concerns over how alternative projections may depict politically disputed territories.
Ukraine objected to aspects of the Equal Earth material because of how Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia is represented. The European Union and several other countries stressed that the resolution does not change borders, sovereignty or territorial status.
France Is Ready to Ditch Mercator
France took the opposite position from Washington.
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that France planned to stop using the Mercator projection for its world maps, aligning Paris with the broader campaign for more proportionally accurate representations.
The change is significant because an equal-area map does not simply make Africa “bigger”. Instead, it removes the exaggerated visual size that Mercator gives to regions closer to the poles.
The World Map May Be Changing—But Not Overnight
The UN vote does not mean the familiar Mercator map will suddenly disappear from classrooms, websites or navigation systems.
Mercator remains useful for specific purposes, particularly navigation. The resolution itself recognises that no flat map can perfectly represent the curved surface of the Earth. Every projection must sacrifice something—whether area, shape, distance or direction.
But the political message from the UN is unmistakable.
Africa does not need to become larger. The map needs to stop making it look smaller.
The 164-1 vote has transformed a centuries-old cartographic debate into a modern argument about education, representation and how visual information shapes perceptions of the world.
And after generations of seeing Africa distorted on the world’s most familiar map, the biggest question now is simple based on Equal Earth projection: Will the world finally redraw the way it sees Africa?
