UN Votes 164-1 to Promote Size-Accurate World Maps, With Only US Opposed
The UN General Assembly has adopted a non-binding resolution urging countries, schools, media outlets, and tech companies to replace Mercator-projection world maps with area-preserving alternatives that show continents at their true relative sizes.
The UN General Assembly adopted a non-binding resolution urging countries, schools, media and tech companies to use area-preserving map projections instead of the Mercator standard. The resolution frames the change as correcting colonial-era distortions that made Africa appear far smaller than its actual size. The US called it a radical ideological project in disguise.
Should schools and governments switch from Mercator to area-accurate world maps?
- Yes
- No opinion
- No
The Mercator projection, developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, was designed for maritime navigation. It preserves local angles and compass bearings but progressively distorts land area at higher latitudes. The result, according to Israel Hayom, is that Greenland appears nearly the same size as Africa on a Mercator map, even though Africa is roughly 14 times larger. Supporters of the UN resolution - led by Togo on behalf of the African Group and backed by the African Union - frame this distortion as more than a technical problem. They argue that decades of Mercator use produced a symbolic diminishment of Africa that shaped perceptions of the continent's status, needs, and development potential. The resolution text described correcting these distortions as an act of "cognitive justice" and historical redress, placing it in the broader context of African Union initiatives on reparations for historical injustices. That framing is precisely what drew the United States' lone "no" vote. According to Israel Hayom, the US deputy representative to ECOSOC argued that the resolution could not be separated from what she called a "much larger and more radical ideological project," accusing the General Assembly of focusing on a 16th-century mapping method and reparations rather than peace and prosperity. France voted in favor and announced it would stop using Mercator in its diplomatic materials, switching to the Eckert IV projection. Ukraine abstained, citing concerns about how some Equal Earth maps depict Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory. The resolution is non-binding: it does not mandate any single official map, ban the Mercator projection, or alter any borders or territorial status. Its backers hope it will nonetheless prompt changes in textbooks, institutional publications, and digital mapping platforms.
A yes vote means schools and governments should actively move away from the Mercator projection and adopt area-accurate maps - a change supporters see as correcting a long-standing and consequential distortion. A no vote means the Mercator projection should remain standard, whether because its navigational and practical strengths outweigh its size distortions, because the push for change is seen as politically motivated, or because such decisions should not be driven by UN resolutions. The poll asks where readers stand on replacing an entrenched cartographic norm in official and educational settings.