The UN General Assembly voted on September 4, 2026, for the resolution "Fix the Map." The document calls for wider use of the Equal Earth projection instead of the traditional Mercator map.
The resolution was initiated by Togo with the support of the African Union. 164 states voted in favor, including France and the United Kingdom. Only the United States voted against, with six other countries abstaining.
The Mercator projection, created in 1569, distorts sizes: Africa appears comparable to Greenland, although in reality it is 14 times larger. Equal Earth, developed in 2018 by a group of cartographers, preserves the true areas of continents.
The African Union approved this projection back in February. Now the UN resolution encourages its use in schools, media, and international organizations where accurate representation of scale is important.
The document is non-binding and does not prohibit Mercator for navigation. It merely recommends equal-area maps where distortions could affect perception.
Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey stated before the vote: "A fair world begins with a fair map."
Why is this important at all?
Because most of us first see the world map in school.
And if a child for years looks at an image where Europe and North America seem huge, and Africa relatively small, this subtly shapes a sense of scale, influence, and place of different regions in the world.
Supporters of the initiative believe that cartographic distortions are not just a matter of geography.
It is a matter of perception.
Togo's Foreign Minister Robert Dussey put it very succinctly before the vote:
"A fair world begins with a fair map."
Africa has long been pushing for change
The African Union supported the shift to more accurate equal-area maps back in February 2026.
Now the idea has gained support at the level of the UN General Assembly.
Togo has already stated that it wants to start using the new projection in school materials by the end of the year.
France also supported the transition to more accurate equal-area images of the world in official and educational materials.
Why did the United States vote against?
The US representative called the resolution part of an "ideological agenda" and a distraction from the real problems of peace and prosperity.
But supporters of the resolution respond simply: the world map is also a language.
And if this language distorts the scale of some regions and exaggerates others, over time it begins to influence not only geography but also thinking.
And Europe abstained
"For" — the majority of European countries, including France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and almost all the rest of Europe.
Abstained six countries: Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine.
The reason was not the idea of a more accurate map itself, but how certain versions of Equal Earth might depict temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories.
That is, the dispute arose not over the sizes of continents, but over the correctness of political borders.
Against from European countries was no one — the only vote "against" was cast The USA.
Europe as a whole supported the resolution, with the exception of six abstaining countries.
A map is not just a picture
It might seem that this is just about a school atlas.
But in fact, a map is one of the first ways a person learns to see the planet.
And if its proportions are distorted, then along with them, the perception of which countries are "big," which are "small," which are "central," and which seem secondary may also be distorted.
Therefore, the current UN resolution is not so much about new cartography.
It is about an attempt to look at the world a little more accurately.
And, perhaps for the first time in many centuries, without the usual optical illusion.
How do the maps we see since childhood shape our perception of the place of continents in the world?
The resolution emphasizes that distorted images can diminish the importance of regions near the equator. Supporters of the project hope that changes in educational materials and digital maps will gradually correct these perceptions.
Togo plans to introduce Equal Earth in schools by the end of the year. France also announced its intention to abandon Mercator in its materials.
