Africa has scored a major symbolic victory at the United Nations after the General Assembly overwhelmingly backed a resolution promoting a new world map that more accurately represents the true size of the continent.
The resolution, spearheaded by the Republic of Togo and backed by the African Union, promotes the Equal Earth projection as a more accurate alternative to the centuries-old Mercator projection, which makes regions close to the poles appear disproportionately large while shrinking equatorial regions such as Africa.
The vote was overwhelming: 164 countries voted in favour, six abstained, while the United States was the only country to vote against the resolution.
For centuries, the widely used Mercator map has created a misleading visual impression of Africa’s size. On the projection, Greenland can appear almost comparable to Africa, despite Africa being approximately 14 times larger than Greenland.
In reality, Africa covers about 30.3 million square kilometres and is large enough to accommodate the United States, China, India and much of Europe within its landmass.
Togo’s Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey, who led the push, argued that maps are not merely geographical illustrations but powerful tools that shape education, imagination and people’s understanding of the world.
The historic vote has therefore been welcomed as more than a cartographic adjustment. Supporters say it represents an effort to correct a distorted visual narrative about Africa and give future generations a more accurate understanding of the continent’s place in the world.
However, the resolution does not outlaw the Mercator projection. It encourages governments, schools, international organisations and technology companies to consider Equal Earth and other equal-area projections when accurate representation of land size is important.
For Africa, the message is unmistakable:
The continent was never small. The map was.
Congratulations to the people of Africa — and special recognition to the Republic of Togo for leading the historic campaign to correct the map and challenge a centuries-old distortion of Africa’s true geographical scale.
