For generations, many of us grew up seeing world maps that made Africa appear much smaller than it actually is.
On 4 September 2026, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the “Correct the Map” resolution, calling for a fairer representation of the relative sizes of Africa and other regions. The resolution received 164 votes in favour, 1 against and 6 abstentions.
The United States was the only country to vote against it, while Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.For generations, many of us grew up seeing world maps that made Africa appear much smaller than it actually is.
On 4 September 2026, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the “Correct the Map” resolution, calling for a fairer representation of the relative sizes of Africa and other regions. The resolution received 164 votes in favour, 1 against and 6 abstentions.
The United States was the only country to vote against it, while Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.
So, why has Africa appeared smaller?
The widely used Mercator projection, developed in 1569 for navigation, distorts the size of landmasses, particularly by enlarging areas closer to the poles. This makes places such as Europe, North America and Greenland appear disproportionately large compared with regions closer to the equator.
For perspective, Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland, although some traditional world maps make them appear surprisingly similar in size.
The resolution promotes greater use of equal-area map projections, including the Equal Earth projection, which more accurately represents the relative sizes of continents.
Importantly, this was an African-led initiative. The CorrectTheMap campaign was advanced by Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa, supported by the African Union, while Togo championed the initiative at the UN on behalf of the African Group.
This is about more than changing a map. It is about representation, education, perception and how Africa is positioned in our understanding of the world.
Africa has not become bigger.
The world is simply being challenged to see Africa as it truly is.
And perhaps there is a bigger question for us: If generations misunderstood something as basic as Africa’s relative size because of how information was presented, what else about Africa should we revisit and understand for ourselves?
