How big is Africa really? Why the UN voted to change the world map
The UN has urged countries to adopt a map that makes Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania larger than the traditional Mercator projection.
UN approves new map showing Africa’s true size
The United Nations General Assembly has voted to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that shows the continent as much bigger than it is on conventional world maps.
On Friday, the resolution aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses on the globe was supported by 164 countries, while the United States voted against it and six other states abstained.
Recommended Stories
list of 3 items- list 1 of 3Ghana tightens gold exports in push to keep more value at home
- list 2 of 3As the China-US AI race reaches Cairo, Egypt faces a strategic decision
- list 3 of 3UN votes to adopt new world map that reflects Africa’s true size
The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – “is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world”, the resolution stated.
Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, which drove the resolution, said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions”.
“The resolution adopted today reaffirms African reality,” he added.
But how does the new map differ from the traditional version, and why did the US object?
What has the UN decided?
The UN has urged member states to adopt a new map in place of the centuries-old, traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569.
That projection focused on accurate depictions of the shapes and angles of land masses, but their relative sizes were often inaccurate – in part because of the challenge of rendering a three-dimensional globe onto a two-dimensional surface.
It inflated northern regions and compressed equatorial ones, making Europe and North America appear much larger, while shrinking Africa and South America.
How big are Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania?
It does not look like it on the conventional Mercator map, but Africa is a giant among the world’s continents at about 30.3 million square kilometres (11.7 million square miles).
It is large enough to contain the US, China, India and most of Europe, yet on a Mercator map it looks roughly the same size as Greenland, which is actually about 14 times smaller than the continent.
Latin America covers roughly 20 million sq km (7.7 million sq miles), of which South America accounts for 17.8 million sq km (6.9 million sq miles).
Oceania spans about 8.5 million sq km (3.3 million sq miles), almost all of it Australia.
South Asia is the smallest of the four at about 5.1 million sq km (2 million sq miles), though it is home to about a quarter of the world’s population.
Combined, the four cover about 64 million sq km (24.7 million sq miles), more than 40 percent of the world’s land surface.
Europe, by comparison, is 10.2 million sq km (3.9 million sq miles).
What has the response to the change of maps been?
Largely positive.
France, which co-sponsored the resolution in support of the new map, announced on Friday that it would abandon the Mercator projection.
In that map, “the United States, Russia and China take on a disproportionate visual prominence compared to Africa, Latin America or Southeast Asia”, while “Greenland appears almost as big as Africa,” Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.
“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world,” he added. “But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth.”
Only the US voted against it, while six other countries – Serbia, Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova and Ukraine – abstained.
US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said before the vote that the resolution is “the reason this institution is losing its credibility”.
“Instead of focusing on genuine problems … this body is debating map projects from the 16th century,” she said.
What is Equal Earth?
Equal Earth was launched in 2018 by three cartographers – Bojan Savric of the Environmental Systems Research Institute, Tom Patterson of the US National Park Service, and Bernhard Jenny of Monash University.
“Equal Earth preserves the relative surface areas of continents and, as much as possible, shows their shapes as they appear on a globe,” Savric told the AFP news agency in 2025.
The UN resolution encourages governments and institutions worldwide to adopt the Equal Earth projection.
Will the world map actually change?
Friday’s resolution is not binding, but is intended to encourage changes to maps used by default around the world.
The UN said in its report that it is not banning the Mercator projection or imposing a replacement, but is merely encouraging the use of the Equal Earth projection.
