How big is Africa really? Why the UN voted to change the world map

What the report says

The United Nations General Assembly has backed a resolution encouraging governments and institutions to use a new world map projection that presents continental landmasses more accurately than the long-used Mercator map, according to Al Jazeera. The vote, reported on Friday, was supported by 164 countries, while the United States opposed it and six others abstained. The initiative was led by several African countries and was described in the resolution as a step toward a more accurate representation of the world.

Al Jazeera reported that the map in question is the Equal Earth projection, which shows Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania at larger, more realistic proportions than the traditional Mercator version. The Mercator projection, created in 1569 for navigation, is widely used but distorts size by enlarging higher-latitude regions and shrinking areas near the equator. That has long made Europe and North America appear more prominent while reducing the apparent scale of Africa and South America.

Togo’s foreign minister, Robert Dussey, said maps shape education and public perception, while France, which co-sponsored the resolution, said it would move away from Mercator. The UN stressed that the measure is not binding and does not ban the older map, but it is meant to encourage broader adoption of Equal Earth. The decision matters because maps influence how people understand geography, scale and global importance.