UN adopts map showing Africa bigger, US smaller
The resolution endorsing the Equal Earth projection passed with support from 164 countries. The United States voted against it, while six countries abstained.
The resolution endorsing the Equal Earth projection passed with support from 164 countries. The United States voted against it, while six countries abstained.
UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted Friday to adopt a world map that more accurately represents the relative sizes of continents, making Africa appear larger and North America and Europe smaller.
The resolution endorsing the Equal Earth projection passed with support from 164 countries. The United States voted against it, while six countries abstained.
The map is intended to replace the centuries-old Mercator projection, which distorts the relative sizes of landmasses by enlarging northern regions and shrinking areas closer to the equator.
Togo Foreign Minister Robert Dussey, whose country sponsored the resolution, said maps "guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions."
"They are therefore never neutral; when they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representation that is passed down through generations."
The United States criticized the measure, saying the U.N. should focus on more pressing issues.
"Instead of focusing on genuine problems... this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice," U.S. representative Yaryna Ferencevych said.
Created by cartographers in 2018, Equal Earth better preserves the relative surface areas of continents, making Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania appear larger than under the Mercator projection.
France, which co-sponsored the resolution, said Friday it would abandon the Mercator projection.
"Changing maps obviously doesn't change the world," French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said. "But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth."
