UN General Assembly backs replacing traditional world map with more accurate version
The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution urging a shift away from the traditional Mercator map toward projections that more accurately reflect Africa's true size. The resolution passed with 164 votes in favor and only the US voting against.
The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to support a resolution titled "Correct the Map," submitted by Togo and backed by African Union member states. The resolution was approved by 164 countries, with six abstentions. The United States was the only country to vote against it.
Why the map is being challenged
The world's most widely used map is based on the Mercator projection, created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator for maritime navigation. The projection distorts the relative size of countries, making territories appear larger the further they are from the equator. As a result, some maps show Greenland as roughly the same size as Africa, even though the African continent is nearly 14 times larger.
Reactions
Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey called the resolution's adoption a "historic moment." He said that for too long, inherited cartographic depictions had distorted perceptions of the true size and place of Africa and other world regions, and that correcting the map means changing how the world is viewed.
In the United States, the initiative was described as part of a radical ideological agenda.
The resolution does not ban the use of the Mercator projection, but calls on governments, educational institutions, international organizations and technology companies to use the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area maps in situations where relative size matters.
