The United Nations General Assembly has backed an African-led push for a new approach to world maps that more accurately represents the actual size of continents, challenging the centuries-old dominance of the Mercator projection.
The resolution, spearheaded by Togo and supported by the African Union, received 164 votes in favour on Friday, September 4, 2026. Six countries abstained, while the United States was the only country to vote against the measure.
The resolution promotes the use of more area-accurate projections, including the Equal Earth projection, which presents Africa and other regions closer to their actual relative size.
It does not, however, legally prohibit countries, schools, technology companies or other institutions from continuing to use the Mercator projection.
Why Africa Wants the World Map Changed
The dispute is rooted in a problem most people encounter without realising it: maps of the world can dramatically distort the apparent size of countries and continents.
The Mercator projection was developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, primarily for navigation. Its method of projecting the spherical Earth onto a flat surface causes landmasses to appear increasingly enlarged as they move away from the Equator.
The effect is particularly striking when Africa is compared with Greenland.
On a conventional Mercator world map, Greenland can appear roughly comparable in size to Africa. In reality, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland.
That distortion is at the heart of the African-led #CorrectTheMap campaign.
The African Union formally backed the initiative, arguing that the way continents are visually represented can influence how people understand their geographical and economic importance.
Togo Leads the Push at the United Nations
Togo took the campaign from the African Union to the United Nations, placing cartographic accuracy on the agenda of the General Assembly.
Togo’s Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey, argued that the issue goes beyond the technical design of maps, saying distorted representations have influenced perceptions of Africa over generations.
Dussey described the initiative as a matter of what he called “cognitive justice”, while maintaining that the scientific evidence surrounding the distortion should be recognised.
The resolution calls for greater cooperation among governments, international organisations, academic institutions and technology companies to promote more accurate representations of the world’s regions.
What Is the Equal Earth Map?
The Equal Earth projection was developed in 2018 by cartographers Tom Patterson, Bojan Šavrič and Bernhard Jenny.
Unlike the Mercator projection, Equal Earth is an equal-area projection. This means the relative areas of countries and continents are represented more accurately, even though no flat map can perfectly reproduce every characteristic of a spherical Earth.
Africa therefore appears substantially larger relative to Europe and North America than it does on a Mercator map.
Latin America, South Asia and Oceania also appear closer to their actual proportions, while regions at higher latitudes appear less exaggerated.
The change is therefore not about physically making Africa “bigger”. Africa’s physical size has always been the same.
The change is about how that size is represented on a flat map.
US Votes Against the Resolution
The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution.
Washington argued that the initiative was unnecessarily political and described the measure as part of what its representative characterised as a broader ideological agenda.
The US criticism contrasted sharply with the overwhelming support the resolution received from the rest of the General Assembly.
France and the United Kingdom were among the countries that voted in favour, while six countries — including Ukraine — abstained. Ukraine’s representative raised concerns about how the Equal Earth projection depicts territories occupied by Russia.
Does This Mean the Old World Map Is Now Banned?
No.
This is one of the most important details surrounding the UN vote.
The General Assembly resolution is not legally binding. It does not force Google, Apple, schools, governments, publishers or private organisations to immediately abandon Mercator maps.
Instead, it encourages member states and other institutions to adopt projections that provide a more accurate representation of the relative size of continents and countries.
Mercator also remains useful for certain specialised purposes, particularly navigation, because of the way it represents directions and lines of constant bearing.
So the UN vote is better understood as a push for more accurate cartographic representation rather than a worldwide legal ban on the Mercator projection.
Could Schools and Technology Companies Change Their Maps?
The biggest potential impact may come gradually through education, publishing and digital technology.
Togo has indicated plans to update its school geography materials, while the UN resolution encourages cooperation with technology companies and mapping organisations.
If more governments, schools and digital platforms adopt equal-area projections, millions of people could eventually become more accustomed to seeing Africa in its proper geographical proportion.
The issue is particularly significant for younger generations who increasingly encounter maps through smartphones, digital classrooms, navigation platforms and online media rather than traditional atlases.
The Bureau Journal has previously examined how technology is changing everyday life, including the growing importance of digital skills in the modern economy.
Why the Debate Matters Beyond Geography
Supporters of the campaign argue that maps are not merely neutral illustrations.
They shape mental images of the world.
When a child repeatedly sees Europe and North America occupying enormous portions of a world map while Africa appears comparatively small, the visual impression can become part of how global geography is understood.
That argument has attracted criticism from some cartographers and commentators who point out that every flat map projection involves compromises.
The scientific issue, however, is straightforward: the Mercator projection does distort the relative areas of landmasses, particularly at higher latitudes.
The Equal Earth projection was specifically designed to address that problem by preserving relative area more accurately.
Africa’s Economic Size Is Another Part of the Conversation
The cartographic debate comes at a time when African countries are also pushing for greater recognition of their economic weight and strategic importance.
Across the continent, governments are seeking greater participation in global value chains, stronger regional trade and more domestic processing of natural resources.
The Bureau Journal recently reported that global goods trade reached about $13.7 trillion in the first half of 2026, with Africa among the regions recording strong import and intra-regional trade activity.
That global trade environment presents an important question for African economies: how much value can the continent capture from the resources and products it supplies to the world?
Africa’s economic challenge is therefore not simply about being represented more accurately on a map.
It is also about ensuring that its enormous natural resources, human capital and consumer markets translate into greater productive capacity and economic influence.
The Map Debate Comes as Africa Pushes for Greater Economic Influence
The same conversation can be seen in individual African economies.
In Burkina Faso, for example, recent economic data have triggered a wider debate over how African countries can convert natural resources and agricultural production into sustained economic development.
The Bureau Journal recently examined Burkina Faso’s economic performance and why its reported growth figures require more context than viral claims about a 43 per cent economic surge suggest.
Elsewhere, African countries are increasingly seeking to move beyond exporting raw materials and towards processing and manufacturing.
In Nigeria, Kogi State’s proposed cashew processing plant is one example of an effort to capture more value locally from agricultural production.
At the continental level, those changes are tied to the broader ambition of increasing Africa’s role in regional and global trade.
Maps Cannot Change Africa’s Size — But They Can Change Perception
There is an important distinction at the heart of the UN decision.
No map can make Africa larger.
No map can make Europe smaller.
The landmasses themselves do not change.
What changes is the visual relationship between them.
That distinction explains why supporters of the resolution describe the campaign as an effort to correct perception rather than alter geography.
For decades, generations of students have grown up with maps that make countries near the poles appear much larger than they actually are.
The new push asks whether the world should continue using that representation as the default when alternatives capable of showing relative area more accurately already exist.
What Happens Next?
The UN vote does not mean that every classroom, website or smartphone will suddenly display an Equal Earth map.
Instead, its significance will depend on whether governments, educational institutions, publishers and technology companies choose to act on the recommendation.
Togo is expected to continue promoting the initiative through the African Union and international organisations, while supporters hope mapping and technology companies will consider more accurate projections for general-purpose world maps.
The debate could therefore continue long after the General Assembly vote.
For Nigeria and the rest of Africa, however, the symbolic significance is already clear.
The continent is demanding that the world look at its geography more accurately — while simultaneously seeking a larger role in global trade, investment, technology and international decision-making.
Nigeria’s own economic history offers a reminder of how dramatically perceptions of African economic power can change. In 1974, Nigeria was wealthy enough to lend $240 million to the World Bank during the oil boom.
Today, the country is working to rebuild productive capacity and attract investment across sectors.
The map cannot change those economic realities.
But the argument behind the UN resolution is that the world should at least begin with a more accurate picture of where Africa actually stands on the globe.
And this time, 164 countries voted to do exactly that.
The Bureau Journal will continue to follow major developments affecting Africa’s position in global affairs, trade, technology and international diplomacy.
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