‘Correct the Map’: Togo-led campaign wins UN backing for a ‘larger’ Africa

A Togo-led campaign to correct the way Africa appears on world maps has won backing from the United Nations General Assembly, after 164 countries supported a resolution titled “Correct The Map.”

The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution. Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine abstained. The campaign was backed by the African Union and advocacy groups that want governments, schools and institutions to move away from the traditional Mercator projection.

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Maps shape our understanding of the world. They guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.

The campaign promotes the Equal Earth projection, which advocates and geographers say gives a more accurate picture of the relative size of continents. On the Mercator map, Greenland appears roughly comparable in size to Africa, although Africa is about 14 times larger. The Equal Earth projection also makes Europe appear smaller, Brazil larger and Greenland dramatically reduced.

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We want to see accurate maps in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and on the digital platforms billions of people use every day.

The resolution does not prohibit the Mercator projection or require its replacement. A UN report says it simply encourages governments and institutions to consider using Equal Earth instead. Togo’s foreign minister, Robert Dussey, said maps shape how people understand the world, guide education and influence collective perceptions.

Africa No Filter, one of the campaign’s leading groups, called for accurate maps in schools, textbooks, newsrooms, businesses and digital platforms. French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot welcomed the vote, saying that changing a map does not change the world, but correcting a distorted representation is “already an act of truth.”

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Changing the map obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts it is already an act of truth.