The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to adopt a new world map. The map makes the African continent appear bigger while North America and Europe look smaller.

The move has drawn anger from Washington.

The resolution aims to provide “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses. Some 164 countries supported the measure while the United States voted against it. Six other states did not vote.

New projection replaces centuries-old design

The new map uses the Equal Earth cartographic projection. It improves “the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world,” the resolution said.

Member states should use the new map instead of the traditional Mercator projection. Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator designed that map for maritime navigation in 1569.

Togo sponsored the resolution. The country’s Foreign Minister Robert Dussey said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions.”

“They are therefore never neutral. When they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representation that is passed down through generations,” Dussey said.

US slams resolution as waste of time

The United States criticised the resolution. US representative Yaryna Ferencevych said such moves are “the reason this institution is losing its credibility.”

“Instead of focusing on genuine problems, this body is debating map projects from the 16th century and their role in promoting reparations and cognitive justice,” Ferencevych said ahead of the vote.

Mercator map distorted continent sizes

The Mercator projection focused on accurate depictions of the shapes and angles of land masses. But their relative sizes were often wrong. This was largely due to the challenge of rendering a three-dimensional globe onto a two-dimensional map.

It inflated northern regions and compressed equatorial ones. This made Europe and North America appear much larger. Africa and South America looked smaller than they actually are.

A group of cartographers launched the Equal Earth projection in 2018. It makes Africa, Latin America, South Asia and Oceania appear much larger.

“Equal Earth preserves the relative surface areas of continents. As much as possible, it shows their shapes as they appear on a globe,” cartographer Bojan Savric told AFP in 2025.

France abandons old map

France co-sponsored the resolution in support of the new map. The country 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,” French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

“Greenland appears almost as big as Africa,” he added.

“Changing maps obviously doesn’t change the world. But correcting a distorted representation is already an act of truth,” Barrot said.

The initiative comes as France seeks to improve relations with Africa. This is particularly true in former colonies where ties have been difficult.