UN Urges More Accurate Maps of Continental Sizes

Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.uz) — The UN General Assembly adopted the “Correct the Map” resolution on 4 September, calling for wider use of map projections that more accurately represent the relative sizes of continents.

The resolution was supported by 164 countries, while the United States voted against it and six countries abstained, including Serbia and Ukraine. Uzbekistan voted in favor of the resolution, the UN News Service reported.

The initiative was put forward by a group of African countries led by Togo. The resolution recommends that governments, educational institutions, international organizations and technology companies use the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area projections when comparing the sizes of territories is important.

The document does not ban the use of the Mercator projection or establish a single mandatory method for depicting the world.

During the discussion, Togo separately emphasized that the resolution does not concern existing borders, sovereignty or the territorial status of states. The European Union also said the document deals exclusively with the cartographic representation of the relative sizes of continents and has no effect on internationally recognized borders.

The Mercator projection was developed by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569, primarily for maritime navigation.

Its main feature is the preservation of angles and constant directions. Straight lines on the map correspond to constant compass directions, allowing sailors to plot routes.

This accuracy, however, comes at the expense of area distortion. The farther a territory is from the equator, the larger it appears on the map. As a result, Greenland can appear comparable in size to Africa, even though Africa’s area is roughly 14 times larger. Northern Europe and North America are also significantly enlarged compared with territories near the equator.

Despite its original navigational purpose, the Mercator projection continues to be used in educational, media, digital and official materials. The resolution’s authors argue that this visual distortion contributes to an imbalanced perception of the size of Africa and other regions.

Togo’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey stressed that the initiative is not directed against the Mercator projection. According to him, representing the world more fairly does not change geography but changes how space is perceived.

The United States opposed the resolution, saying the initiative is political in nature and forms part of a broader ideological project.

Ukraine, which abstained, said it supports efforts to correct historical cartographic distortions affecting Africa and other parts of the Global South. At the same time, the Ukrainian side expressed concern about how some maps using the Equal Earth projection depict Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation.

The European Union raised similar concerns. The EU representative, speaking on behalf of Ireland, said support for the resolution did not automatically mean approval of maps published on the Equal Earth website. The EU also stressed that the document does not address sovereignty, territorial status, delimitation or internationally recognized borders.

Experts note that the Mercator projection itself is not incorrect. Olga Podshuvayt, an associate professor at the Faculty of Geography of the Herzen State Pedagogical University of Russia, explained that every cartographic projection serves a particular purpose and inevitably distorts certain characteristics of the Earth’s surface.

According to Podshuvayt, angular accuracy was the priority for the Mercator projection because of its importance for navigation, while equal-area projections make it easier to compare the sizes of territories. She cited the Kavrayskiy pseudocylindrical projection, used in Russian textbooks and atlases, and the Robinson projection, in which the proportions between the sizes and shapes of continents are closer to their actual proportions, as examples of other approaches.

At the same time, Podshuvayt said the Mercator projection remains practically important for navigation because angular accuracy is more important in that context than visual comparison of areas.

The adopted resolution also emphasizes that different cartographic projections are designed for different purposes.

The document therefore does not require the use of one specific type of map. Instead, it calls for consideration of the relative sizes of continental territories where this is important for education, public information and the development of cartographic literacy.