UN General Assembly backs equal-area world maps in move away from Mercator projection

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Friday, 4 September 2026, adopted a resolution encouraging the use of map projections that more accurately reflect the relative size of continents, in a vote of 164 to one.

The resolution, led by Togo on behalf of the African Group, marks the culmination of an African-led campaign against the Mercator projection, a 16th-century map that remains the most widely used depiction of the world.

The United States (US) cast the only vote against, describing the initiative as part of a "radical ideological project". Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.

What the resolution does

The resolution does not ban the Mercator projection or mandate a replacement. Instead, it encourages governments, schools, international organisations and technology companies to use the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area maps where relative size matters.

It also calls for the limitations of any flat map in representing a spherical planet to be taught. The measure is non-binding.

The "Correct the Map" resolution was put forward by African Union (AU) member states together with the Bahamas. Al Jazeera reported that France also co-sponsored the text.

Speaking before the vote, Togo's Minister of Foreign Affairs Robert Dussey said: "Maps shape our understanding of the world. They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions."

The distortion at issue

Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator devised the projection in 1569 to solve a practical problem of maritime navigation. Straight lines on his map correspond to constant compass bearings, allowing sailors to plot their courses.

Preserving direction, however, comes at the cost of area. Landmasses appear increasingly enlarged the farther they lie from the Equator, magnifying northern Europe and North America relative to equatorial regions.

Greenland, for instance, can appear roughly comparable in size to Africa, even though Africa is about 14 times larger.

Despite its navigational origins, the projection remains common in educational, media, digital and official materials. The resolution states that its distortions have contributed to the "symbolic minimization" of Africa and perpetuated an unbalanced view of the world.

"A fair map"

The resolution describes correcting such distortions as an act of "cognitive justice and memorial reparation". It identifies Equal Earth, developed in 2018, as a projection that more accurately represents relative size.

Dussey emphasised that the effort was not intended to condemn Mercator, whose usefulness for navigation he acknowledged, nor to impose a single projection.

"A fair map does not change the geography of the world, it changes how we see the world," he said.

According to Al Jazeera, Dussey linked the campaign to wider African efforts to confront colonial-era legacies, while maintaining that it was not an attack on Europe or any other civilisation.

Road to the vote

CNN reported that the vote followed the AU's adoption of the Equal Earth map in March. In April, Togo, acting on behalf of the AU, asked UN member states to do the same.

A draft resolution was subsequently prepared, and the General Assembly held informal consultations on the text in July, according to the same report.

The resolution was adopted during the 114th plenary meeting of the Assembly's 80th session.

Washington objects

The US took a sharply different view. According to Fox News, Yaryna Ferencevych, the US deputy representative to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), spoke against the resolution.

"This resolution mocks the work and purpose of this institution," the US representative said, arguing that what was presented as an innocuous update to cartographic proportions belonged to "the much larger and more radical ideological project".

"Instead of focusing on genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations, this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice," the representative said.

The representative described resolutions of this kind as "barnacles on our work here and the reason this institution is losing its credibility".

France changes course

France moved in the opposite direction. Hours before the vote, Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot announced that France planned to abandon the Mercator projection for its world maps.

According to CNN, Barrot said: "The United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or southeast Asia." He added that "the time has come to correct them".

The shift means France itself, like the US and Russia, will appear smaller relative to equatorial countries. Equal-area maps do not enlarge Africa; they remove the exaggeration Mercator gives to landmasses nearer the poles.

Concerns over disputed territory

Ukraine said it supported efforts to correct historical distortions affecting Africa and other parts of the Global South, but objected to how some Equal Earth maps depict Ukrainian territory occupied by Russia.

Its representative warned that endorsing the projection without adequate safeguards could open a "Pandora's box", allowing maps to create ambiguity over disputed territories.

The European Union (EU) supported the resolution but raised the same concern. Speaking on behalf of the bloc, Ireland stressed that the measure applied only to the relative size of landmasses.

Ireland said the resolution had no bearing on sovereignty, territorial status or internationally recognised borders. The EU added that its support did not constitute an endorsement of the maps displayed on the Equal Earth website.

Reaction from creators and advocates

According to NPR, Tom Patterson, who developed Equal Earth with Bojan Šavrič and Bernhard Jenny, expressed surprise on social media, saying the team never imagined such an outcome when creating the projection in 2018.

Prof Carlos Lopes of the University of Cape Town, a prominent advocate of the campaign, wrote on X after the vote: "164 votes in favour! This is an emotional day for me."

The limits of any map

The resolution itself acknowledges a problem no vote can resolve: no projection can perfectly reproduce the Earth's curved surface on a flat plane. Each sacrifices area, shape, distance or direction, and each suits different purposes.

The Mercator projection will remain in use. However, the vote gives near-unanimous international backing to an argument many African governments have increasingly pressed: that choices made over maps can shape how generations understand the world.