By Sandra Kenneth
The United Nations General Assembly has overwhelmingly voted to endorse a resolution urging member states to adopt the Equal Earth projection, replacing the centuries-old Mercator map in an effort to provide a visually accurate representation of global landmasses.
Spearheaded by several African nations and co-sponsored by France, the resolution passed on Friday with 164 votes in favor. The United States voted against the measure, while six other nations abstained.
The resolution advocates for replacing the traditional Mercator projection—developed in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator for ocean navigation—with the Equal Earth model created in 2018. While Mercator accurately preserves shapes and angles, it significantly inflates the size of landmasses in northern latitudes while shrinking regions near the equator. As a result, North America and Europe appear far larger on standard maps than their actual geographic proportions relative to Africa, South America, and South Asia.
Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey, a key figure behind the resolution, highlighted the broader cultural impact of map projections during the assembly. “Maps guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions,” Dussey stated. “When they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representations that are passed down through generations.”
French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced that France will officially phase out the Mercator projection in alignment with the vote, noting that the traditional model grants “disproportionate visual prominence” to northern powers while Greenland appears nearly as large as the entire African continent. “Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world,” Barrot said. “But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”
The United States strongly opposed the resolution, criticizing the General Assembly for focusing on cartographic debates rather than pressing geopolitical conflicts. US Representative Yaryna Ferencevych argued before the vote that such discussions undermine the UN’s core mission, stating, “Instead of focusing on genuine problems, this body is debating map projects from the 16th century.”
Despite the opposition, the resolution marks a diplomatic victory for the coalition of African nations pushing for cartographic accuracy, encouraging schools, government institutions, and international organizations to transition toward equal-area map projections.
