Africa: UN Backs Effort to Drop Mercator Map and Show Size of Africa More Accurately
[RFI] The United Nations voted on Saturday for a shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map towards one more accurately reflecting the true size of countries.
The United Nations voted to shift away from the 16th-century Mercator global map, opting for a more accurate representation of countries' true sizes. The resolution, backed by 164 nations including France, aims to counter perceptions that Africa is peripheral. Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, Ukraine and the United States abstained from the vote.
Togo led the initiative, pushing the African Union to limit the use of the Mercator projection, which distorts the size of regions far from the equator. The United States, Russia and China appear disproportionately large compared to Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia on the Mercator map. France plans to stop using Mercator maps for navigation and education, emphasizing that the change is about justice, dignity and equality in how the world is represented.
Written by urgent.news from AllAfrica's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
