Overview
- The UN General Assembly approved a Togo-led resolution on Friday, September 4, 2026, recommending that the Mercator projection be replaced by the Equal Earth projection, with the vote reported as 164 in favor, six abstentions, and the United States voting against.
- France's foreign minister said the country will abandon Mercator for official use, showing immediate political traction for the non-binding measure and signaling possible national policy shifts.
- Supporters argue Mercator, created for navigation, enlarges high-latitude regions and shrinks equatorial ones, which makes Africa look far smaller than it is; for example, Africa is roughly 14 times larger than Greenland.
- The push combined diplomatic action by Togo and the African Union with public campaigning by the Correct the Map movement and a Change.org petition, and the AU had formally adopted Equal Earth earlier in 2026.
- Because UN General Assembly resolutions are not legally binding, practical change will depend on education authorities, governments and private mapping platforms choosing to adopt Equal Earth or other area-accurate projections; Equal Earth was developed in 2018 as an area-preserving alternative to Mercator.