World Maps Might Soon Get an Upgrade. The United Nations Votes to Endorse Global Charts That Better Represent Africa’s True Size
The most widely used global map is almost 500 years old and was designed for navigation. But landmasses near the poles look larger than their actual relative sizes, and those near the equator look much smaller
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/Margherita_Bassi.png)
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/6c/cd/6ccd5e01-e02d-493d-afe2-b75b33883c4e/smithsonian_feature_images_22.png)
If you open Google Maps, you’ll notice that Greenland looks like it’s about the same size as Africa. However, the African continent is actually around 14 times larger than the icy landmass. This discrepancy shows up because Google Maps employs a type of world diagram called the Mercator projection.
The Mercator projection is the most widely used map in the world, but it might soon get booted to make way for one that more accurately represents the areas of landmasses. On September 4, the United Nations (U.N.) General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution that urges institutions to adopt maps that better portray countries’ relative sizes. Although it does not legally obligate anyone to use different maps, the move is an act of “cognitive justice and memorial reparation,” according to an announcement from the organization.
The U.N. recommends using “equal area” maps and specifically points to the Equal Earth projection. Developed in 2018, this chart—which more accurately portrays landmass sizes—offers a fairer view of global patterns in terms of population, environment, development and politics, write Jack Swab and Derek Alderman, geographers at the University of Tennessee Knoxville, for the Conversation.
Did you know? The oldest world map
The Babylonian Map of the World, called Imago Mundi in Latin, is a clay tablet inscribed with the oldest known global map. It dates to the sixth century B.C.E., and it’s currently housed at the British Museum in London.
Mapping the world is challenging. It’s impossible to represent Earth’s spherical surface in a continuous flat projection without area, shape, distance or direction getting distorted. The widely used Mercator projection was drawn in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator, and it was “revolutionary for navigation,” according to the Cartographic Institute.
“It’s very useful for navigational purposes as it maintains the accuracy of a compass bearing between two points without having to recalculate it,” Swab and Alderman write for the Conversation. But “the Mercator projection isn’t good for showing the size of the Earth’s landmasses.”
Directional accuracy won out over landmass size, with nations near the North and South poles represented as much bigger than their true relative sizes and those close to the equator as smaller in the Mercator projection. Nonetheless, today it is frequently used outside of navigational contexts, including in education and media, according to the U.N.
The #CorrectTheMap campaign argues that the Mercator projection’s continued widespread use diminishes Africa’s significance. The campaign received endorsement by the African Union in August 2025, with the West African country Togo spearheading the movement, reports the Guardian’s Eromo Egbejule.
“Maps are more than just guides for travelers—they shape how regions are perceived politically and economically,” Kenyan geographer Kioko Muendo tells the BBC News’ Thomas Mukhwana and Wycliffe Muia. The Mercator map has understated Africa’s resources, population and investment prospects, he says.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/filer_public/78/b2/78b2a88e-f1de-448d-b999-8a3ee68c03e6/smithsonian_feature_images_21.png)
The U.N.’s resolution does not ban the Mercator map or impose its replacement. Instead, it urges governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to use maps like the Equal Earth projection in contexts where landmasses’ relative sizes are important and emphasize the limitations of two-dimensional maps. The resolution passed by 164 votes to one. The United States voted against the resolution, and Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.
“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,’” Yaryna Ferencevych, deputy U.S. representative to the U.N. Economic and Social Council, writes in a statement by the United States Mission to the United Nations. “Resolutions like this and the ideological agenda they promote are barnacles on our work here, and the reason this institution is losing its credibility.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine voiced objections over how some maps relying on Equal Earth portray Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory, according to the U.N. However, the Eastern European country supported actions to more accurately depict Africa’s size.
Togo will be the first to change its geography books and aims to do so before the end of the year, the country’s foreign minister Robert Dussey told Reuters’ Aleksandra Michalska before the vote.
“A fair world begins with a fair map,” he said.
/https://tf-cmsv2-smithsonianmag-media.s3.amazonaws.com/accounts/headshot/Margherita_Bassi.png)