The count in the General Assembly hall read 164 in favor, 1 against. On Friday, September 4, 2026, UN member states voted to encourage the use of the Equal Earth projection, a world map that shows Africa at something closer to its real size.
Togo sponsored the resolution, with African Union members behind it. The United States cast the lone no vote. Six countries abstained: Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine.
Why the old map matters
The Mercator map dates to the 16th century. Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator drew it to help European navigators at sea, and the design stretches regions near the poles, such as North America and Greenland, while shrinking Africa and South America. UN News says it makes Africa look roughly 14 times smaller than it is. Under Equal Earth, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland. On a Mercator map the two look about equal.
Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey put the case to the Assembly before the vote. “Maps shape our understanding of the world,” he said. “They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.” He also said the aim was not to condemn Mercator or to force one replacement: “A fair map does not change the geography of the world, it changes how we see the world.”
What the resolution does
It is not binding. Mercator is not banned. The text promotes Equal Earth and other equal-area maps for governments, schools and technology companies, and it frames the change as “cognitive justice and memorial reparation.” It also concedes that no flat map can show a curved Earth without giving something up.
France said it would drop Mercator from its own maps.
Objections
The US representative called the resolution part of a “radical ideological project” and took issue with its references to reparations. Washington also described it as a distraction from “genuine problems of international peace, prosperity or good relations.”
Ukraine and the European Union backed the text but flagged worries about how some Equal Earth versions draw disputed territory. In their view the measure could blur contested borders.
Sources
- UN tells the world: Stop making Africa look small
- UN approves new world map: What to know about 'Equal Earth'
