UN General Assembly Endorses New World Map to Reflect True Size of Africa
The United Nations General Assembly has passed a historic resolution urging governments, educational institutions, and media organisations to move away from the traditional Mercator world map in favour of projections that accurately reflect the true scale of continents, particularly Africa. The "Correct the Map" initiative, sponsored by Togo on behalf of the African Union and backed by the Bahamas, was adopted with an overwhelming majority of 164 votes in favour. The United States cast the sole opposing vote, while six nations abstained.
For nearly 450 years, the 1569 Mercator projection has served as the primary global standard for cartography. Originally developed for maritime navigation, the projection preserves compass directions but severely distorts land area as distance from the equator increases. Consequently, equatorial landmasses such as Africa, South America, and South Asia appear significantly smaller than their actual dimensions, while polar regions like Greenland and North America are vastly exaggerated. On Mercator maps, Greenland and Africa appear roughly equal in size, despite Africa being approximately 14 times larger.
The newly endorsed resolution promotes equal-area cartographic models, specifically highlighting the 2018 Equal Earth projection. Proponents argue that centuries of cartographic distortion have perpetuated Eurocentric biases and shaped flawed public perceptions regarding the geopolitical and economic stature of the Global South. Although the UN resolution is non-binding and does not ban navigational uses of the Mercator map, the vote is expected to accelerate updates to classroom curricula, textbooks, and digital mapping platforms worldwide.
