The United Nations General Assembly has voted to replace the traditional Mercator world map with a projection that more accurately reflects the size of Africa.
The “Correct the Map” resolution, sponsored by Togo and backed by African Union members, secured the support of 164 countries, including France and the United Kingdom.
The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution, while six countries abstained.
Although the resolution is non-binding, the vote is expected to influence the maps used by institutions around the world.
The Mercator projection, which has been widely used since the 16th Century, has faced criticism for significantly distorting the relative size of continents and countries.
The map makes Africa appear roughly comparable in size to Greenland, despite Africa being about 14 times larger.
Critics argue that such distortions contribute to perceptions that minimise the scale, resources and potential of countries near the equator.
The Mercator map was designed in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to assist European explorers with navigation.
Its distortion results from the difficulty of representing the curved surface of the Earth accurately on a two-dimensional map.
Countries closer to the equator appear smaller, while those nearer the poles appear disproportionately larger.
In 2018, a team of cartographers developed the Equal Earth projection as an alternative designed to preserve the relative areas of continents more accurately.
In February, the African Union’s 54 member states adopted the projection, saying it “more accurately represents the sizes of all continents, particularly Africa”.
Online campaign group #CorrectTheMap said: “You could fit the United States, China, India, Japan, Mexico and much of Europe into Africa and still have land to spare.”
Ahead of Friday’s vote, Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey told Reuters: “A fair world begins with a fair map.”
At a UN briefing, Dussey also said: “A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions, influences how the place of peoples and continents in the world is understood.”
He received backing from French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said France would stop using the Mercator map.
“Changing the map obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth,” he said.
However, Yaryna Ferencevych, a US representative at the UN, criticised the resolution, saying it mocked the work and purpose of the General Assembly.
“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’,” she said.
The US had also criticised a resolution adopted in March declaring the transatlantic slave trade “the gravest crime against humanity”.
Lerato Mogoatlhe from Africa No Filter, one of the groups behind the campaign against the Mercator map, told the BBC: “Africa’s misrepresentation on world maps is not just a cartographic error – it’s a narrative issue.”
She said the campaign formed part of efforts to stop what she described as the “world’s longest misinformation and disinformation” about Africa.
Kenyan geographer Kioko Muendo said the Mercator projection had implicitly downplayed Africa’s vast resources, population and investment opportunities.
“Maps are more than just guides for travellers – they shape how regions are perceived politically and economically,” he told the BBC.
Faridah Abdulkadiri
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