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The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly backed an African-led push to change the way the world is represented on maps, with 164 countries voting in favour of the “Correct the Map” resolution, while only the United States voted against it and six countries abstained.
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The initiative, championed by Togo on behalf of the African Group and backed by the African Union, challenges the centuries-old Mercator projection, arguing that its distortion of landmass sizes makes Africa and other regions of the Global South appear significantly smaller than they actually are.
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The resolution promotes the use of the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area maps in international institutions, education, media, publications and digital platforms where accurate representation of continental size is important, linking cartographic accuracy to what African leaders describe as a more balanced global perception.
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The campaign is being presented as more than a technical change in cartography, with African advocates arguing that maps shape perceptions of power, development, geography and global importance, and that correcting Africa’s visual representation is part of confronting historical distortions associated with colonial-era worldviews.
September 04, (THEWILL) — The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly endorsed an African-led initiative to change the way the world’s continents are represented on maps, with 164 countries backing a resolution designed to promote more geographically proportionate representations of Africa and other regions of the Global South.
THEWILL reports that only the United States voted against the resolution, while six countries abstained, in a vote that gave overwhelming international backing to the “Correct the Map” campaign spearheaded by Togo and supported by the African Union.
The resolution, formally designated A/80/L.104 and titled “Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, Particularly Africa,” was considered at the General Assembly’s 114th plenary meeting on Friday. The UN’s official programme listed action on the draft as one of the meeting’s principal agenda items.
The campaign seeks to encourage governments, schools, international organisations, media organisations and technology companies to use maps that provide a more accurate indication of the relative sizes of continents, particularly when geographical scale is relevant.
Although the resolution does not amount to an outright worldwide ban on the Mercator projection, it seeks to establish the use of more proportionally accurate equal-area projections as a stronger global norm. Equal Earth is the principal projection promoted by the campaign.
Africa Challenges Centuries-Old Distortion
At the centre of the dispute is the Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.
The projection was created primarily for navigation because it allows sailors to plot courses using constant bearings. Its usefulness for navigation helped make it one of the most influential map projections in history.
But the same characteristics that make Mercator useful for navigation create major distortions when it is used to compare the actual size of continents and countries.
Areas become increasingly enlarged the farther they are from the Equator. As a result, countries and territories in the far north and south can appear dramatically larger than their actual land area, while equatorial regions, including much of Africa, appear smaller.
One of the most striking examples is Greenland. On many Mercator maps, Greenland appears comparable in size to Africa or, depending on the map, even larger in visual prominence.
In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland. The distortion becomes even more obvious when Africa is compared with other northern landmasses whose apparent size on conventional world maps bears little resemblance to their actual surface area.
Campaigners behind “Correct the Map” argue that the problem is not simply a question of cartographic technique but one of perception.
They contend that generations of people have grown up looking at maps in which Europe and North America appear disproportionately large while Africa, South America and parts of Asia appear significantly reduced.
The campaign says such visual representations can contribute to a distorted understanding of Africa’s physical scale and, by extension, perceptions of its economic potential, population, infrastructure requirements and geopolitical importance.
Togo Leads African Push At UN
Togo emerged as the principal diplomatic driver of the initiative at the United Nations, presenting the resolution on behalf of the African Group.
Togo’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Robert Dussey, had urged African countries to mobilise support for the initiative ahead of the General Assembly vote, describing it as an opportunity for Africa to advance a more accurate and inclusive representation of the world.
In a briefing to African ambassadors in New York on Thursday, Dussey said the initiative was to promote a better understanding of the limitations of commonly used map projections and encourage representations that more faithfully convey Africa’s true scale.
He stressed that the campaign was not directed against any country or continent, but was intended to promote scientific accuracy, better geographic education and a more inclusive understanding of the planet.
The African Union had earlier endorsed the “Correct the Map of Africa” initiative, with the continental body describing the campaign as part of a broader effort to challenge historical misconceptions about Africa and ensure that the continent is represented in a manner consistent with its size, influence and global contribution.
The campaign gained momentum after the AU backed the Equal Earth projection and Togo took the issue to the United Nations.
The Bahamas also joined the African states in sponsoring the initiative, broadening the campaign beyond Africa and reinforcing its appeal among countries concerned about distortions affecting regions outside Europe and North America.
Why Equal Earth Matters
The alternative promoted by the campaign is the Equal Earth projection, introduced in 2018. Unlike Mercator, Equal Earth is designed as an equal-area projection, meaning that the relative sizes of land areas are represented much more accurately.
It does not eliminate every distortion because no flat map can perfectly represent a spherical Earth. Instead, it seeks a better balance between geographic accuracy, shape and visual clarity.
On an Equal Earth map, Africa occupies the vast physical space that it actually does on the planet. Greenland, by contrast, is dramatically reduced from the oversized appearance it has on Mercator maps.
Europe and other regions at higher latitudes also lose some of the visual enlargement associated with Mercator, while South America, Africa and other equatorial regions become much more proportionately represented.
Supporters therefore argue that the change is not about making Africa “bigger” but about showing Africa at its actual size.
The campaign says this distinction is crucial because the purpose is not to create a map that favours Africa but one that does not systematically exaggerate or diminish particular regions.
African campaigners have repeatedly argued that the political significance of the initiative extends beyond geography. They maintain that maps are educational and cultural tools that influence how children understand the world from an early age and how societies perceive different countries and regions.
Fara Ndiaye, co-founder of Speak Up Africa, one of the organisations associated with the campaign, has argued that the issue goes beyond geographical precision because maps influence perceptions of power and global importance.
The campaign has consequently described the move as an effort to challenge what it regards as a longstanding cartographic imbalance and to replace it with a representation that better reflects scientific reality.
The argument has also gained traction outside Africa. New Zealand, for instance, has previously drawn attention to the way conventional world maps can visually marginalise countries located at the edge of a map, while campaigners in the Caribbean have supported the broader call for more equitable representations.
France Joins The Shift
The UN vote was preceded by a significant announcement from France, which said it would abandon the Mercator projection in its official representations in favour of maps that provide a fairer depiction of continental areas.
French Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said representations that make the United States, Russia and China appear disproportionately prominent compared with Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia can influence perceptions over time.
Barrot argued that such distortions can become embedded in public consciousness and said the time had come for more accurate representations.
The French move added momentum to the African-led initiative just as the General Assembly was preparing to vote. It also underscored the broader debate over whether countries and international institutions should continue relying on a projection originally designed primarily for maritime navigation when presenting the world for educational, political and general informational purposes.
Felix Ifijeh is a journalist with years of professional reporting experience. Known for his keen news sense, compelling storytelling and commitment to accurate, impactful reporting, he has built a reputation for turning leads into clear, engaging, and well-structured reports that resonate with readers. His work reflects deep newsroom experience and a commitment to accurate, impactful journalism.
