UN votes to approve new world map which will show true size of Africa
Leer en EspañolThe UN general assembly has voted to replace the traditional world map with one that more accurately reflects the size of all nations.
The approved resolution calls for the world to move away from the traditional Mercator map, which shrinks the size of Africa and exaggerates northern landmasses.
The “Correct the Map” resolution, sponsored by Togo, passed with the support of 164 nations, including the UK. The US was the only nation to vote against it, with six other abstentions.
The resolution is non-binding, but asks governments, schools, international organisations, and technology companies to adopt the Equal Earth projection and other equal-area maps wherever the true scale of continents matters, with the aim of establishing more proportionally accurate maps as a new global norm. It does not seek to ban the Mercator projection outright.
The Mercator projection, which is currently used worldwide, increases distortion the further a region sits from the equator. Since Afr..
