New World Map Restores Africa’s True Scale

The world has not changed size, and national borders have not been redrawn. What may gradually change is how the planet appears on a flat map.

The U.N. General Assembly approved a resolution promoting cartographic projections that represent the relative size of continents more faithfully. The initiative gives particular attention to Africa, Latin America and South Asia, regions whose scale can be distorted in commonly used world maps.

Togo introduced the initiative, called “Correct the Map,” on behalf of the African Group. It won 164 votes, while six countries abstained. The United States was the only country to vote against it.

The resolution is not legally binding. Governments, schools and technology companies are not required to adopt the recommended approach. It supports the use of Equal Earth, a projection developed in 2018 that preserves the proportional size of land areas. Its adoption would gradually reduce the use of distorted representations, especially for educational purposes.