Overview
- The General Assembly voted for the measure on Friday, with 164 countries in favor, one against (the United States) and six abstentions.
- The resolution encourages governments, schools, international organisations and technology platforms to adopt the Equal Earth and other equal‑area projections where accurate comparisons of land area matter and it does not ban the Mercator projection.
- France said it will abandon the Mercator projection and a handful of institutions have signalled moves away from Mercator, while Togo said it will convene African Union members, UNESCO and mapping companies within months to coordinate implementation.
- Adoption will be practical and technical because Mercator remains useful for navigation, many web maps use Web/Mercator, and equal‑area projections trade off shape or angle accuracy for true area, which raises questions about disputed borders and platform changes.
- Campaigners framed the vote as correcting a centuries‑old visual bias — for example Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland — and supporters say the change could reshape school curricula, newsrooms and public perceptions over time.