Australia and Africa expand, North America and Europe shrink: UN adopts new world map

The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution to promote more accurate and equitable global cartographic representation, particularly of Africa. The resolution, championed by Togo on behalf of the African Group, was passed with 164 countries voting in favour, one against, and six abstaining.

The resolution encourages the use of the Equal Earth projection, which shows locations more accurately than the traditional Mercator map. The Mercator projection, commonly used since the 16th century, can make some parts of the world appear much larger or smaller than they actually are. For example, Africa appears to be the same size as Greenland on the Mercator map, but is actually 14 times larger.

The US was the only country to vote against the resolution, with some outlets reporting it claimed the new map promoted an "ideological agenda", while others stated it was seeking to use the map to promote "reparations and cognitive justice". Six countries, including Serbia, Estonia, and Ukraine, abstained from the vote. The African Union welcomed the decision, with its Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf praising Togo's leadership and the unity of African countries behind the initiative.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald, Live Mint, National Post, Associated Press — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.