The UN General Assembly has backed an initiative led by African countries to promote maps that more accurately reflect the true size of continents. The Mercator projection will not be banned, but other map projections are recommended for educational purposes.
According to CentralAsia, the UN General Assembly has approved a resolution calling for the use of map projections that more accurately represent the actual dimensions of continents. The initiative was proposed by African countries amid criticism of the traditional Mercator projection.
A total of 164 countries supported the resolution, while the United States voted against it. Six countries, including Ukraine, abstained.
Key points of the initiative:
- the Mercator projection will not be abolished and can still be used for navigation;
- equal-area projections are recommended when showing the relative size of territories;
- one example is the Equal Earth projection;
- the initiative aims to provide a more accurate representation of continents in education and digital services.
Representatives of African countries argue that distortions on maps can influence how people perceive the world. The Togolese foreign minister said that the smaller representation of Africa in the Mercator projection can contribute to a distorted perception of the continent’s significance.
The European Union emphasized that the resolution concerns only the relative size of territories and does not affect territorial status or questions of sovereignty.
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