On Friday 4 September, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the resolution "Correct the Map: rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting a more equitable representation of the world's regions", by 164 votes in favour, 1 against and 6 abstentions. Tabled by the Republic of Togo with the backing of the African Union, the resolution encourages governments, educational institutions, international organisations, media and technology companies to adopt equal-area map projections, such as the Equal Earth projection, wherever the true size of countries and continents matters.
"Africa is at the centre of this century, yet the world still pictures it through a tool designed for sixteenth-century navigation, at half its true size. That gap between reality and representation has a cost in how Africa is taught, reported, negotiated with and invested in. This resolution shifts the burden of proof onto those who would keep the distortion. Our job now is to make sure the classroom, the newsroom and the screen catch up with the vote." Fara Ndiaye, Deputy Executive Director, Speak Up Africa
The vote marks the first time the world's governments have collectively acknowledged that the Mercator projection, the default image of the planet for nearly five centuries, misrepresents the relative size of continents. Designed in 1569 for European maritime navigation, Mercator preserves angles at the expense of area, showing Africa at roughly half its true scale while enlarging Europe and North America. On a Mercator map, Africa and Greenland appear similar in size; in reality, Africa is about fourteen times larger.
Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter launched the Correct the Map campaign to challenge this distortion and to call for maps that reflect Africa's true dimensions in classrooms, media and public life. More than 11,000 citizens joined the movement by signing the Correct the Map petition, alongside educators, researchers and partners across the continent and beyond. The campaign received the formal support of the African Union in June 2025, through the leadership and championing of Deputy Chairperson, H.E. Ambassador Selma Malika Haddadi, which transformed a civic demand into a continental political position, before Togo carried it to the General Assembly.
"Speak Up Africa was created on the conviction that Africans must lead the conversations that shape Africa's future. This vote is that conviction made visible on the world stage: an African campaign, endorsed by the African Union, carried by an African government and adopted by the overwhelming majority of the world's nations. Representation and development are not competing priorities. We thank every member state that voted for a fairer map, and we will be at the table for what comes next." Yacine Djibo, Executive Director, Speak Up Africa
Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter pay tribute to Professor Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Togo, who carried the resolution from Lomé to the floor of the General Assembly and built the case with member states. Addressing the Assembly ahead of the vote, Professor Dussey said: "A fair world begins with a fair map."
Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter also salute Professor Carlos Lopes of the University of Cape Town, promoter of the Correct the Map campaign, whose engagement was instrumental in engaging the African Union and researchers across the continent to the case for a fairer map, giving the campaign the intellectual weight it needed on the road to New York.
Why it matters
Maps shape perception, and perception shapes decisions. A continent that appears small is more easily treated as marginal in diplomacy, investment and global priorities. Africa is the second-largest continent by land area and population, and by 2050 one in four people on earth will be African. The continent is central to the defining questions of this century: climate, energy, trade, demography, security and innovation. Correct the Map argues that the way the world pictures Africa should match that reality.
The distortion is not confined to Africa. The Mercator projection reduces the apparent size of the entire equatorial belt, including South America, South Asia and Southeast Asia. Equal-area projections such as Equal Earth, which preserve the true proportions of continents while retaining familiar shapes, are freely available and widely used in scientific and educational settings.
What comes next
Following the vote, Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter will focus on implementation across five areas:
Pan-African partners have a direct role in what follows. Speak Up Africa and Africa No Filter invite ministries of education, media houses, publishers, universities and civil society organisations across the continent to signal their adoption of equal-area maps, to share materials and lessons, and to be recognised among the first movers. Partners wishing to join the implementation phase are invited to contact the campaign at the address below.
The vote
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Speak Up Africa.
Media contact:
Fara Ndiaye
Deputy Executive Director
Speak Up Africa
fara.ndiaye@speakupafrica.org
+221 33 822 49 22
About Speak Up Africa:
Speak Up Africa is a Senegal-based, not-for-profit advocacy organisation. Founded in 2011, it works to catalyse leadership, enable policy change and raise awareness for sustainable development in Africa, across health, equity and education. Speak Up Africa co-leads the Correct the Map campaign with Africa No Filter. www.SpeakUpAfrica.org
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