UN Approves New World Map Showing Africa's True Size

On Friday, September 6, 2026, the United Nations General Assembly voted for a new world map. This new map has the name Equal Earth projection. It shows the real size of Africa. A group of African countries and other organizations worked together to help this happen.

Togo sponsored the resolution, and the African Union supported it. During the vote, 164 countries voted yes. Only the United States voted against the new map. Six countries did not vote. These countries were Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, and Ukraine.

The United Nations will not ban the old map. The old map is the Mercator map, and people first used it in the 16th century. The UN report says the new resolution only encourages schools, businesses, and newsrooms to use the Equal Earth map.

The old Mercator map made Greenland and Africa look like they were the same size. However, the Equal Earth map shows the true sizes of the continents. On this new map, Africa is 14 times larger than Greenland.

A Flemish mapmaker named Gerardus Mercator designed the old map to help European sailors. It was very useful for navigation on the sea. But it made places near the poles, like North America and Greenland, look too big. At the same time, it made Africa and South America look too small.

Robert Dussey is the Foreign Minister of Togo. Before the vote, he said that maps are very important because they guide education and shape how we see the world. Jean-Noël Barrot, the French Foreign Minister, also wrote about the vote. He explained that a correct map shows the truth.