Togo’s Equal Earth Map Wins UN Vote, 164 to One
TOGO · SOCIETY
Key Facts
—The vote: The General Assembly adopted the resolution on 4 September 2026 by 164 votes to one, with six abstentions.
—Who brought it: Togo tabled the text and the African Union backed it, according to UN News.
—The lone objection: The United States cast the only vote against. Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.
—What it asks: Governments, schools, international bodies and technology companies are encouraged to use equal-area projections when comparing the size of continents.
—What it does not do: The text is not legally binding. It leaves the Mercator projection fully in place for maritime and aerial navigation.
—The distortion at issue: On a Mercator map Greenland looks close in size to Africa. Africa is roughly fourteen times larger.
—Where the map came from: Equal Earth was published in 2018 by the cartographers Tom Patterson, Bernhard Jenny and Bojan Šavrič.
—The catch: The resolution binds nobody, so the map only changes where a government, school or tech firm chooses to change it.
The United Nations General Assembly has encouraged the world to adopt the Equal Earth map, voting 164 to one on 4 September 2026 for a resolution tabled by Togo and backed by the African Union. The text binds nobody, yet it puts the weight of the whole membership behind a picture of the world in which Africa is finally drawn to size.
What the Equal Earth map resolution actually says
The resolution is known at the United Nations as the “Correct the Map” text. UN News confirmed its adoption on Friday 4 September.
It encourages governments, schools, international organisations and technology companies to consider equal-area projections whenever an accurate comparison of continental size matters. Equal Earth is named as one such option, not as the only one.
Nothing in the text is compulsory. General Assembly resolutions carry political weight rather than legal force, and this one says plainly that Mercator remains fully suited to maritime and aerial navigation.
A country of nine million carried the text
Togo led the negotiations for the African Group, and African Union member states co-sponsored the text with the Bahamas, per UN News. That is an unusual pairing of one small West African state and a bloc of fifty-five members.
Lomé has form in this kind of diplomacy. Togo has spent the past decade converting its port and its patient shuttle diplomacy into influence that runs well ahead of the size of its economy.
The vote also handed the African Union a rare procedural win. Its members have pressed for years, with far less success, for permanent representation on the Security Council.
Why Mercator makes Africa look small
Gerardus Mercator published his projection in 1569 for sailors, who needed a chart on which a constant compass bearing is a straight line. The price of that convenience is that land stretches as it moves away from the equator.
The result is familiar to anyone who has stood in front of a classroom wall map. Greenland appears about the size of Africa, when Africa is roughly fourteen times larger, as Gabon Review noted in its account of the vote.
Equal Earth takes the opposite trade. Published in 2018 by Tom Patterson, Bernhard Jenny and Bojan Šavrič, it keeps areas honest and accepts some bending of shape in return.
The United States voted alone
Washington cast the single vote against, and six European and Caucasus states abstained, according to Al Jazeera’s tally of the ballot. No other delegation opposed the text.
The abstentions came from Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine. That leaves the United States isolated on a question most members treated as tidy housekeeping.
What changes in practice
The immediate effects are administrative. United Nations agencies, education ministries and national mapping departments now have a reference point when they choose a default projection.
The larger prize sits in software. Most people now meet the world through a phone, and the projections chosen by the big mapping platforms shape intuition far more than any printed atlas.
Whether those companies move is entirely their own decision. The resolution asks politely; it has no way to instruct.
Why a map is also a commercial question
Perception tends to follow proportion. Investors, students and travellers who grew up looking at a shrunken Africa carry that impression into decisions about where opportunity might sit.
The continent covers about 30 million square kilometres and is home to roughly 1.5 billion people, on United Nations estimates. The African Continental Free Trade Area is being built on exactly that scale.
None of this is settled by a projection. It is simply easier to argue for a market when the map does not quietly shrink it first.
What to watch next
The test is adoption rather than applause. Watch whether United Nations agencies switch their own default maps, and whether education ministries follow in the school year ahead.
Watch the platforms too. A change by one large mapping provider would do more for the campaign than the vote itself.
Frequently Asked Questions
What did the United Nations decide about the Equal Earth map?
The General Assembly adopted a resolution on 4 September 2026 encouraging the use of equal-area projections such as Equal Earth. The vote was 164 in favour, one against and six abstentions.
Which country proposed the resolution?
Togo tabled the text and the African Union backed it. The resolution is titled “Correct the Map”.
Is the resolution legally binding?
No. General Assembly resolutions carry political weight rather than legal force, and this one only encourages governments, schools and companies to consider equal-area projections.
Does this mean the Mercator projection is being abandoned?
No. The resolution states that Mercator remains fully suited to maritime and aerial navigation.
How much bigger is Africa than a Mercator map suggests?
On a Mercator map Greenland looks close in size to Africa. Africa is in fact about fourteen times larger.
Connected Coverage
Our standing file on the contest for the continent runs through Africa: The New Scramble, and the regional desk sits at Western Africa. For the longer story of how a small state built outsized reach, see Togo’s rising maritime influence.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error
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