The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution recommending the use of a new world map designed to represent countries and continents more proportionally, with Africa appearing significantly larger than in traditional cartographic depictions.
According to CNN, the resolution — titled 'Correct the Map' — was put forward by African Union member states and the Bahamas. It passed with 164 votes in favour, six abstentions, and a single vote against, cast by the United States. The initiative promotes replacing the traditional Mercator projection with cartographic representations that more accurately reflect the relative surface areas of the world's regions, specifically recommending the Equal Earth projection.
The Mercator projection was developed by European cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569 and remains widely used, primarily because it was designed to facilitate maritime navigation. However, when applied to a global representation, it introduces significant distortions, particularly in regions far from the Equator.
In practice, countries and territories located further north or south appear far larger than they actually are, while equatorial regions — including much of Africa — are visually reduced. One of the most cited examples is Greenland, which on the Mercator map appears to be roughly the same size as Africa. In reality, Africa is approximately 14 times larger than Greenland, whose land area is more comparable to that of the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The UN resolution states that such distortions contribute to underplaying the true scale of Africa, Latin America and South Asia, and may perpetuate an unbalanced perception of the world. The document further notes that cartographic representation can also shape how the economic and social realities of these regions are understood, including their infrastructure needs, development potential, prosperity and geopolitical weight.
In this context, the UN frames the adoption of a more proportional representation as a matter of equity in how different parts of the world are visualised. The Equal Earth projection, introduced in 2018, seeks to correct these distortions by providing a more proportional depiction of continental land areas. Under this projection, Africa appears significantly larger than in Mercator-based maps, while Europe and Greenland are shown at dimensions much closer to their actual size.
France has also announced its intention to move away from the Mercator projection, though it has opted for the Eckert IV projection rather than Equal Earth. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot argued that traditional maps confer excessive visual prominence on countries such as the United States, Russia and China relative to Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
The shift now endorsed by the UN is the result of an initiative led by African nations. In February, the African Union officially adopted the Equal Earth projection at its 39th ordinary session. In April, Togo, representing the continental body, called on UN member states to follow the same course. The proposal led to informal consultations held in July, ahead of the General Assembly vote.
The African Union has argued that the change is not merely a technical adjustment in cartography, but also a means of repositioning Africa in global perception — highlighting its true geographical, economic, historical, cultural and diplomatic scale. The debate over how countries are represented on maps is not new. In 2018, New Zealand also drew attention to its marginal placement on many world maps, even using a tourism campaign that playfully mocked its peripheral position in traditional representations.
The Equal Earth projection also allows for different centring of the map. One version can place Oceania at the centre rather than using Greenwich, in London, as the primary geographic reference point. Despite the resolution's adoption, the transition will ultimately depend on effective uptake by institutions, governments, education systems and digital platforms.
Digital services such as Google Maps currently continue to use a version of the Mercator projection. The UN resolution therefore also recommends dialogue between technology companies, member states and regional organisations to promote what it considers more accurate cartographic representations. The decision could mark a significant shift in how the world is visually represented, bringing the dimensions shown on maps closer to the true territorial area of each continent.
Source: Diário Económico
Original article: https://www.diarioeconomico.co.mz/2026/09/05/mundo/africa/onu-aprova-novo-mapa-mundi-que-da-maior-dimensao-visual-a-africa/
