164 to 1: US stands alone against UN resolution to redraw the world map

The United States cast the sole vote against a UN resolution calling for a change to the world map.

The UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/80/L.104, titled "Correcting the Map," by a vote of 164 in favor, 1 against and 6 abstentions at its 114th plenary session at UN headquarters in New York on Friday (local time), according to The Guardian and The New York Times. The six countries that abstained were Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine.

US Ambassador to the UN Mike Waltz said the resolution was "masquerading as a harmless attempt to correct map proportions," adding that Washington viewed it as "part of a much larger and more radical ideological project."

"These kinds of resolutions and the ideological agendas embedded in them are barnacles on our work and the reason the UN loses credibility," Waltz said. "If you ask why the UN is losing legitimacy around the world and why it is not taken seriously time and again, the answer is resolutions like this one."

The resolution recommends the use of equal-area maps — such as the Equal Earth projection introduced in 2018 — in contexts where comparing the relative sizes of continents matters. It is non-binding and does not prohibit the use of the Mercator projection.

Togolese Foreign Minister Robert Dussey, who led the push for the resolution, said the distortion of maps "has persisted for a long time and produced serious consequences," symbolically diminishing the size of Africa and other regions and creating "an unbalanced view of world geography."

"This is not a political debate — it is a scientific one," Dussey said. "The scientific evidence is there, and we must all accept reality."

Ukraine's Ambassador to the UN Andrii Melnyk abstained, citing concerns over how the Equal Earth map depicts Ukrainian territory currently under Russian occupation, saying it represented the areas "in a completely unacceptable way."

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, speaking at the Sorbonne in Paris, said France would "abandon the Mercator projection and adopt a representation that is more faithful to actual surface areas."

After the vote, Barrot wrote on X (formerly Twitter): "Changing the map does not change the world. But correcting a representation that distorts the world is, in itself, an act of truth."

The Equal Earth map. [AFP/Equal Earth/Handout]

The Mercator projection was created in 1569 by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator for navigational use. Because it distorts landmasses near the poles, Greenland appears roughly the same size as Africa on such maps — even though Africa is in fact about 14 times larger.

Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter, which led the campaign for the resolution, said the depiction of Africa on current maps "is wrong." "This is the longest-running misinformation campaign in the world, and it needs to stop," she said.

The African Union said it would work to spread equal-area maps such as the Equal Earth projection into classrooms, media outlets and international organizations "so that world maps finally reflect Africa's true size and standing."

Because the resolution is non-binding, its impact will depend on voluntary action by national governments, educators and technology companies.

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