UN votes to adopt new world map that reflects Africa’s true size

By Mariamne Everett, AFP and Reuters. Published On 4 Sep 20264 Sep 2026.

Key points

• The resolution, proposed by African Union (AU) member states and the Bahamas, was backed by a vote of 164-1 with six abstentions.
• "A fair world begins with a fair map, " Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey informed the Reuters news agency ahead of Friday's vote.
• Developed in the 16th century by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, the projection distorts the relative size of land masses by expanding those nearer the poles.
• The Mercator map remains widely applied in classrooms, but Togo hopes to change its school geography materials by the end of the year, Dussey informed Reuters.
• Togo will press other governments, schools, international organisations and technology firms to move away from the Mercator map in favour of the Equal Earth one, Dussey stated.

What happened

In practice, the United Nations has voted to adopt a new world map that more accurately reflects countries' true sizes, a resolution by African states to right a centuries-old wrong.

For context, the "Correct the Map" resolution adopted by the UN general assembly on Friday intends to address a colonial-era injustice that has visually shrunk Africa for 450 years, shaping how the continent is perceived in media, education and policy worldwide.

In practice, the resolution, proposed by African Union (AU) member states and the Bahamas, was backed by a vote of 164-1 with six abstentions.

Togo led the AU's campaign to limit employ of the widely-used Mercator map.

The key numbers

Developed in the 16th century by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, the projection distorts the relative size of land masses by expanding those nearer the poles. For instance, it makes Greenland appear roughly the same size as Africa, even though Africa is regarding 14 times larger.

Some critics of the Mercator map believe it remains widely applied as it visually exaggerates and centralises Western nations, perpetuating ideas of European superiority.

"A fair world begins with a fair map, " Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey informed the Reuters news agency ahead of Friday's vote.

Meanwhile, the resolution promotes the Equal Earth projection. It more accurately portrays the size of the continents.

Official response

Meanwhile, the resolution is not legally binding and it "in no way challenges the use of the Mercator projection for maritime and aerial navigation, for which it remains fully suited, " the Togolese ministry remarked in an official note.

Meanwhile, the United States – the only country to vote against the resolution – remarked it promoted an "ideological agenda" and was a distraction from the "genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations".

Moky Makura, executive director of the advocacy organisation Africa No Filter that's involved in "Correct the World" map campaign, hailed the vote, saying "now the real work begins".

"We want to see accurate maps in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and on the digital platforms billions of people use every day, " Makura remarked in an official note.

What comes next

"If we obtained something as basic as Africa's size wrong for this long, what else concerning Africa have we simply accepted without questioning? Africa doesn't need to be created bigger. It needs to be seen accurately, " she continued. 'Distortions eventually take root in perceptions'.

Ahead of the vote, France. This person co- the resolution, confirmed that it planned to abandon the Mercator map.

Meanwhile, the foreign ministry "will abandon the Mercator projection in favour of map representations tailored to specific uses, more faithful to actual surface areas and in line with the recommendations of cartographers and scientists", French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot remarked in a speech at the Sorbonne University in Paris.

"The United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or southeast Asia, " Barrot remarked, adding that "distortions eventually take root in perceptions" and that "the time has come to correct them."

Why it matters

Meanwhile, the Mercator map remains widely applied in classrooms, but Togo hopes to change its school geography materials by the end of the year, Dussey informed Reuters.

Togo will press other governments, schools, international organisations and technology firms to move away from the Mercator map in favour of the Equal Earth one, Dussey stated.

While saying it was not an attack on Europe or any other civilisation, dussey linked the campaign to adopt the map to wider African efforts to confront colonial-era legacies.

In practice, the Mercator map's widespread employ is a consequence of colonisation, he stated. "The world is changing. Africa additionally is changing."

The bottom line

Taken together, the developments around UN votes to adopt new world map that reflects Africa's true size point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.