UN backs Equal Earth map to show Africa's true size, ending centuries of Mercator distortion

On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly voted to endorse a different way of drawing the world. The Equal Earth projection, a map that shows continents in their actual proportions, received backing from 164 member states. Only the United States voted against it. Six others—Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Ukraine—abstained. The resolution, sponsored by Togo and supported by African Union members, marks the culmination of a campaign by African nations and advocacy organizations to correct what they see as centuries of geographic misrepresentation.

The map being replaced is the Mercator projection, designed in the 16th century by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to aid European navigators crossing the ocean. For over four hundred years, it has been the standard in classrooms, atlases, and newsrooms across much of the world. But the Mercator projection carries a fundamental distortion: it enlarges landmasses near the poles—Greenland, North America, and northern Europe appear far larger than they actually are—while shrinking regions near the equator. On a Mercator map, Africa and Greenland appear roughly the same size. In reality, Africa is fourteen times larger.

Geographers have long understood this limitation. Mark Monmonier, a professor of geography at Syracuse University, notes that outside its original narrow purpose—helping sailors navigate by sea—the Mercator projection has no practical value. Yet it persisted, shaping how billions of people understood the relative size and importance of continents. The distortion was not accidental; it was built into the mathematics of the projection itself, a consequence of translating a sphere onto a flat surface.

The Equal Earth projection, finalized in 2018, takes a different approach. It follows the Earth's curvature and renders continents in their true proportions, eliminating the systematic enlargement of polar regions. The difference is not subtle. Where Mercator made Greenland loom large, Equal Earth shows it at its actual scale. Where Mercator diminished Africa, Equal Earth restores it.

Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey framed the vote in terms that went beyond cartography. "Maps shape our understanding of the world," he said before the assembly. "They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions." The statement captures what advocates see at stake: not merely technical accuracy, but the formation of how people think about geography and global relationships. Africa Filter, one of the leading organizations behind the campaign, called for accurate maps in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses, and the digital platforms where billions encounter geography daily.

The resolution does not ban the Mercator projection or mandate its replacement. It encourages—a softer word than requires. Governments and institutions around the world are invited to adopt Equal Earth, but the choice remains theirs. France's Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot captured the symbolic weight of even this non-binding endorsement: "Changing the map obviously doesn't change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth."

What happens next depends on whether schools, publishers, and digital platforms act on the encouragement. The vote itself is a statement—a formal acknowledgment that the way the world has been drawn for centuries was wrong, and that accuracy matters. Whether that statement translates into the actual maps people see and learn from remains an open question.