UN Votes to Promote a New World Map; Serbia Abstains

The United Nations General Assembly has backed a campaign to correct the way the world appears on maps, with 164 countries voting in favor, the United States voting against and six countries abstaining, including Serbia.

The resolution, titled “Correct the Map,” was sponsored by Togo and supported by members of the African Union. It is not binding, and it does not ban the Mercator projection or impose a replacement. Instead, it encourages governments, schools, international organizations and technology companies to use the Equal Earth projection and to teach the limits of representing a spherical planet on a two-dimensional surface.

The Mercator map has been widely used since the 16th century. Critics say it makes Africa appear similar in size to Greenland, even though Africa is 14 times larger. They argue that the distortion can minimize perceptions of the development needs and potential of countries near the equator.

“

A fair world begins with a fair map.

The distortion reflects the difficulty of displaying the globe accurately on a flat map. The Mercator projection makes countries near the equator look smaller and those closer to the poles look larger. Cartographers developed the Equal Earth projection in 2018 to address that imbalance. In February, the 54 members of the African Union adopted it, saying it represents the relative sizes of all continents more accurately, especially Africa.

Before the vote, Togo’s foreign minister, Robert Dussey, told Reuters that “a fair world begins with a fair map.” At an earlier UN briefing, he said, “A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions and influences how people understand the place of nations and continents in the world.” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot also supported the campaign and said his ministries would stop using the Mercator map.

“

A map is never neutral. It shapes perceptions and influences how people understand the place of nations and continents in the world.