UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 5 — The United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Friday to adopt a resolution calling on the world to formally shift away from the 16th-century Mercator world map toward the Equal Earth projection, a modern chart that shows countries in proportions closer to their true size.
The measure, sponsored by African member states, was approved 164 to 1, with the United States standing alone in opposition and six nations abstaining. The resolution is non-binding but carries significant political weight as a symbol of shifting global priorities and a push for “cartographic justice.”
The Equal Earth map, created in 2018 by cartographers Bojan Šavrič, Bernhard Jenny and Tom Patterson, addresses a long-standing complaint that the Mercator projection — designed for maritime navigation in 1569 — dramatically inflates the apparent size of polar regions while shrinking Africa, South America and other equatorial landmasses. Africa, the continent, appears roughly the same size as Greenland on the traditional map, despite being 14 times larger.
The change is largely symbolic. The Equal Earth projection is not legally mandated, and national mapping agencies, GPS systems and online platforms are free to adopt it or not. However, diplomats and advocacy groups said the vote signals a growing recognition that the way the world is visualized shapes how people perceive the relative importance of different regions, encouraging governments, schools, and tech companies worldwide to stop using maps that make the Global South look artificially small.