A non-binding General Assembly resolution supports wider use of a map projection that reduces the size distortions associated with Mercator maps.
The United Nations General Assembly voted on September 4 to support wider use of a world map that represents Africa and other continents at more accurate relative sizes, according to the account supplied for this article. The “Correct the Map” resolution, sponsored by Togo and supported by African Union members, received 164 votes in favor, six abstentions and one vote against.
Most European countries were among the countries supporting the measure. The United States cast the only opposing vote, while six countries abstained (Estonia, Serbia, Moldova, Georgia, Lithuania and Ukraine). Because the resolution is non-binding, it does not require UN members, schools, publishers or other institutions to replace their maps.
The decision nevertheless gives political weight to an African-led effort challenging the continued prominence of the Mercator projection. Supporters say the familiar format understates Africa’s geographic scale and can influence perceptions of the continent’s place in the world.
African Union presses for a new standard
The resolution favors the Equal Earth projection, an equal-area map developed by cartographers in 2018. Unlike Mercator, it preserves the relative area of countries and continents while presenting the globe on a flat surface. Other visualizations have similarly explored the real size of countries on maps and the distortions created when a spherical planet is reduced to two dimensions.
The African Union’s 55 member states adopted the projection in February, saying it gives a more accurate picture of the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa. Togo then brought the issue to the General Assembly, where each UN member has a vote and resolutions usually express a collective political position rather than create binding law.
Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey presented the campaign as a matter of representation. “A fair world begins with a fair map,” he told Reuters before the vote. At a UN briefing, he also said: “A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood.”
France also supported the initiative. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said his ministry would stop using Mercator maps. “Changing the map obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth,” he said.
Why the Mercator projection is disputed
Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator created his projection in 1569 to support navigation. Its straight lines helped sailors plot courses, but transferring the curved surface of Earth to a rectangle greatly enlarges areas near the poles and makes equatorial regions appear relatively smaller. Alternative ways of viewing the planet, including models of an Earth without oceans, also demonstrate how presentation choices can alter people’s understanding of geography.
The distortion can make Africa appear roughly comparable in size to Greenland, although Africa is about 14 times larger. Every flat world map requires compromises because a two-dimensional image cannot preserve area, shape, distance and direction at the same time.
Supporters of the campaign argue that the choice among those compromises has cultural and political consequences. The online group #CorrectTheMap illustrated Africa’s scale by saying the continent could contain the United States, China, India, Japan, Mexico and much of Europe, with land remaining. Africa’s vast land area also shapes policy debates extending beyond cartography, including the potential for natural forest regrowth in Africa.
United States questions UN priorities
Washington opposed the resolution on the grounds that the General Assembly should concentrate on more urgent international challenges. US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said the proposal mocked the body’s work and purpose.
“Instead of focusing on genuine problems of international peace, prosperity, or good relations, this body is debating map projects from the 16th Century, and their role in promoting reparations and ‘cognitive justice’,” she said.
The disagreement reflects a wider contest over the General Assembly’s agenda. African governments and their allies presented the map as an issue of historical representation, while the United States characterized the debate as a distraction from the UN’s main responsibilities.
What the resolution changes
The measure’s immediate effect depends on voluntary action. UN offices, national governments, schools, media organizations and map publishers will decide whether and when to adopt Equal Earth or another equal-area projection.
The vote does not eliminate Mercator, which remains useful for some navigation and digital mapping applications. Its principal consequence is institutional and symbolic: it records broad General Assembly support for maps that show land areas in correct proportion and gives the African Union a platform to seek changes in official visual standards.
Implementation will be the next test. Supporters will look for revised maps in public documents, classrooms and official communications, while governments that opposed or abstained from the resolution remain under no legal obligation to follow it.
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