UN votes to adopt new world map to reflect Africa's true size

The United Nations General Assembly has decided to replace the traditional world map with a new one that better represents the true size of Africa. The "Correct the Map" resolution, proposed by Togo and supported by African Union (AU) nations, received backing from 164 countries, including France and the United Kingdom. Only the United States voted against the resolution, with six nations abstaining.

The widely used Mercator map, in use since the 16th century, has been criticized for depicting Africa as being roughly the same size as Greenland, despite Africa being 14 times larger. This map distortion has led to the underestimation of the development potential and needs of equatorial countries. The Mercator map, designed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, was created to aid European explorers in navigation.

The distortion is a consequence of the challenge of representing a spherical Earth on a two-dimensional surface. In 2018, a team of cartographers developed an equal area map called the Equal Earth projection to address this issue. The African Union's 54 member states adopted the Equal Earth projection in February, emphasizing its ability to more accurately depict the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa.

Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey emphasized the importance of accurate maps during the UN briefing, stating, "A fair world begins with a fair map." The UN vote, while non-binding, will prompt changes to the maps utilized by various institutions worldwide.