The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution calling for a more accurate representation of Africa's true size on world maps, in a vote that split the Assembly largely along a familiar diplomatic fault line.
According to the UN's official meetings record, the resolution, titled "Correct the map: rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world's regions, particularly Africa", was adopted on Friday by a recorded vote of 164 in favour to one against, with six abstentions: Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, the Republic of Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine. The United States cast the sole vote against.
The resolution calls for wider use of equal-area map projections, particularly the Equal Earth projection, in contexts where the comparative size of continents matters.
According to the official UN record of the debate, its sponsors argued that distorted maps affect education, public understanding, culture, geopolitics and how Africa's scale and potential are perceived globally, framing the issue as one of "cognitive justice" and historical recognition, rather than simply a technical cartographic correction.
Why it matters
At the centre of the debate is the Mercator projection, devised in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator to help European sailors navigate using straight compass bearings.
The projection distorts the apparent size of land masses as they move further from the equator, meaning regions closer to the poles appear far larger than they actually are, while regions nearer the equator, including most of Africa, appear smaller.
On a Mercator map, Greenland can appear roughly comparable in size to Africa, even though Africa is, in reality, around 14 times larger.
The Equal Earth projection, developed in 2018, is designed to preserve the true relative area of land masses while keeping their shapes recognisable.
The resolution does not call for Mercator to be abandoned altogether, recognising that no single flat projection can perfectly represent the Earth's curved surface, and that Mercator remains useful for maritime and aerial navigation, where its preservation of compass bearings is valuable.
Africa's response
Togo led the campaign on behalf of the African Group at the UN, building on an initiative first endorsed by the African Union Assembly in February.
In an official statement posted after the vote, the African Union's Permanent Observer Mission to the UN congratulated Togo and the African Group, calling the resolution "a historic step toward accurate and equitable global cartographic representation".
The statement added that "for centuries, the Mercator projection distorted global geography, shrinking Africa to the size of Greenland when our continent is actually 14 times larger", and said the resolution would help ensure "the world map finally reflects Africa's true scale, weight, and place in the world".
African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf also welcomed the vote, commending Togo's leadership and the unity of African states in advancing the initiative.
Washington's objection
The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution.
In an official explanation of vote published by the US Mission to the United Nations, Deputy US Representative to the UN Economic and Social Council Yaryna Ferencevych said: "This resolution mocks the work and purpose of this institution."
She argued that while the initiative was "presented as an anodyne effort to update cartographic proportions", the United States viewed it as inseparable from "the much larger and more radical ideological project it belongs to".
She said resolutions of this kind were "barnacles" on the UN's work and part of the reason the institution was "losing its credibility".
A narrower, unresolved objection: Ukraine and the EU
Ukraine's explanation of vote, delivered separately, said it supported the broader goal of correcting historical cartographic distortions affecting Africa and the wider Global South, but objected to how some maps built on the Equal Earth projection depict Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russia.
Ukraine's representative warned that endorsing the projection without safeguards could create ambiguity around disputed territories.
Speaking on behalf of the European Union, Ireland's representative addressed the same concern directly, stressing that the resolution's scope was strictly limited to the relative size of continental landmasses for educational and geographical literacy purposes, and had no bearing whatsoever on sovereignty, territorial status, border delimitation or the internationally recognised borders of any state.
The EU's official explanation of vote stated plainly that its support "does not constitute an endorsement" of any specific map or website, including the Equal Earth projection's own website.
What happens now
The resolution is not legally binding. It encourages, rather than requires, governments, schools, international organisations and technology companies to adopt equal-area projections where relative size matters, and to teach the limitations inherent in any flat representation of a spherical planet.
Togo has said it intends to update its own school geography materials and to press other governments and technology companies to move towards equal-area maps in the years ahead.
Whether the shift takes hold widely will depend on choices made far beyond the UN General Assembly floor, in ministries of education, publishing houses and technology companies around the world.
For now, the vote gives African governments a powerful new platform for an argument they have made for years: that how the world is drawn can influence how the world is understood, and that Africa's geographical scale has too often been misrepresented.