UN adopts new world map showing true scale of continents; only US votes against it
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The new map - known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection - more accurately depicts the scale of the continents than the traditional Mercator projection that it replaces.
PHOTO: EQUAL EARTH
- The United Nations adopted the Equal Earth map projection to show a more accurate size of continents, supported by 164 countries; the US opposed it.
- The new map corrects distortions of the Mercator projection, enlarging Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania while reducing North America and Europe.
- France supports the change to improve relations with Africa and calls the update "an act of truth," despite acknowledging that maps do not change reality.
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NEW YORK - The United Nations General Assembly voted on Sept 4 to adopt a new world map that makes the African continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe, drawing ire from Washington.
Aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the United States voted against it and six other states abstained.
The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – improves “the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,” the resolution said.
It urges member states to use the new map in place of the traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.
Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, which sponsored the resolution, said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.”
“They are therefore never neutral; when they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representation that is passed down through generations.”
The United States however slammed the resolution, saying such moves are “the reason this institution is losing its credibility.”
“Instead of focusing on genuine problems... this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice,” US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said ahead of the vote.
The Mercator projection focused on accurate depictions of the shapes and angles of land masses, but their relative sizes were often inaccurate – largely due to the challenge of rendering a three-dimensional globe onto a two-dimensional map.
It inflated northern regions and compressed equatorial ones, making Europe and North America appear much larger, while shrinking Africa and South America.
A group of cartographers launched the Equal Earth projection in 2018. It makes Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania appear much larger.
“Equal Earth preserves the relative surface areas of continents and, as much as possible, shows their shapes as they appear on a globe,” one of the cartographers, Bojan Savric, told AFP in 2025.
France – which co-sponsored the resolution in support of the new map – announced on Sept 4 that it would abandon the Mercator projection.
In that map, “the United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or South-east Asia,” while “Greenland appears almost as big as Africa,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world,” he said. “But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”
The initiative comes as France is seeking to improve relations with Africa, particularly in former colonies with which it has prickly ties. AFP
