"Was Africa This Big?... UN to Address 'Distorted World Maps'"

Resolution Adopted to Promote Equal-Area Projections Such as Equal Earth

Highlighting Distortion of Area in Traditional Mercator Projection

The familiar image of the world map seen in textbooks or on the internet may soon change. The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution promoting wider use of "equal-area map projections," which more accurately represent the actual size of continents.

According to reports from AFP and other foreign media outlets on the 6th, the UN General Assembly passed resolution A/80/L.104 on September 4 (local time), titled "Correct the Map: Restore Balance in World Map-Making for Fair Representation of World Regions, Especially Africa."

Equal Earth projection map.

In Traditional Projections, Africa and Greenland Appear Similar in Size

The resolution was adopted with 164 votes in favor, one against, and six abstentions. The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution, while Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine abstained.

The motivation behind this resolution stems from concerns that the "Mercator projection," devised by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in the 16th century, significantly distorts the actual size of continents. While the Mercator projection presents directions and angles necessary for navigation accurately, it increasingly exaggerates areas as one moves further from the equator.

For example, Africa is about 30.4 million square kilometers in area—approximately fourteen times larger than Greenland’s 2.16 million square kilometers. However, on the Mercator world map, the two regions appear roughly the same size. This is because Greenland, located near the Arctic, is depicted far larger than it actually is, making Africa’s relative scale seem diminished.

Distortion Reduced by Using the Equal Earth Projection

The UN has paid particular attention to the "Equal Earth projection," developed in 2018. This projection is designed to preserve the relative area of continents and regions when projecting the globe onto a flat surface. As a result, regions near the equator, including Africa and South America, are represented much larger than on traditional Mercator maps, while high-latitude areas such as North America and Europe appear smaller by comparison.

The Mercator projection, created in the 16th century, significantly exaggerates areas as one moves toward high latitude regions, with severe distortion occurring near the poles. Yonhap News

The resolution was reportedly spearheaded by Togo, a West African nation. Acting on behalf of African countries, Togo championed the resolution, and the African Union (AU) had previously also stated the need to use the Equal Earth projection to represent Africa’s true area more accurately. Togo stressed that maps are not merely geographic information but "cognitive tools" that influence education and public perceptions of the world.

However, the resolution is not legally binding, and it does not require immediate abandonment of existing world maps or ban the use of the Mercator projection. Instead, the proposal urges more active adoption of equal-area projections, such as the Equal Earth projection.

Meanwhile, the United States, the only nation to vote against the resolution, opposed linking mapmaking to "cognitive justice" or the legacy of colonialism, criticizing what it sees as the UN’s excessive focus on a cartography issue dating back to the 16th century.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.