The UN challenges five centuries of cartography

The UN endorsed the Equal Earth map projection over the 500-year-old Mercator projection to more accurately depict the true sizes of continents.

The United Nations passed a resolution, backed by the African Union, promoting the Equal Earth projection over the 1569 Mercator map, with 164 countries voting in favor and one opposing. Equal Earth preserves accurate relative continental areas, unlike Mercator, which inflates regions far from the Equator, while avoiding the extreme shape distortion of Gall-Peters. The resolution calls correcting cartographic distortions 'an act of cognitive justice and memorial reparation.'