UN adopts new map: Africa bigger, North America and Europe smaller

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

France-Presse, A. (2026, September 4). UN adopts new map: Africa bigger, North America and Europe smaller. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3366446/un-adopts-new-map-africa-bigger-north-america-and-europe-smaller?utm_source=rss_feed

Dated when The Aporia collected the article, usually within hours of publication. Check the original for its exact date and byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-09-04 · by Agence France-Presse

Quick Summary

The UN General Assembly voted 164-1 on Friday, with six abstentions, to adopt a new map called the Equal Earth cartographic projection. The resolution, spearheaded by African countries, makes Africa appear larger while shrinking North America and Europe compared to the traditional Mercator map. This shift is aimed at achieving "a more accurate representation" of continental landmasses, according to the resolution. US Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, who led the effort, emphasized that maps can influence collective perceptions and perpetuate inaccurate representations if they are distorted.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-04, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

September 4th, 164 countries, including France and the UK, voted in favor of a resolution at the UN General Assembly to adopt a new world map that more accurately reflects the size of Africa. Only the US voted against it, with six other states abstaining. The new map, known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection, aims to provide a more accurate representation of continental landmasses and reduce distortions caused by the traditional Mercator projection, which has been widely used since the 16th century. According to Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, "a fair world begins with a fair map," highlighting the importance of cartography in shaping our understanding of the world. The resolution promotes the use of the Equal Earth projection over the Mercator projection, which distorts the relative size of land masses by expanding those nearer the poles, making Greenland appear roughly the same size as Africa, although Africa is about 14 times larger.

Written for “UN Adopts New World Map” on 2026-10-21, grounded in this article and the 24 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 UN Adopts New World Map
World · 25 article(s) covering the same event. Compare every outlet's account →

Compared with similar articles

This article reads leans left and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
UN adopts ‘more accurate’ world map with larger Africa and smaller North America, Europe same event · 100%
National Post · 0.95 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 17 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles describe the exact same UN General Assembly vote on September 4, 2026, with the same resolution outcome and voting details.”
Africa bigger, US smaller as UN votes to adopt a new world map same event · 100%
ABC News (AU) · 0.94 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 21 📰 publisher trust 68
“Both articles report on the exact same resolution vote with the same date, time, number of countries in favor, abstainers, and the US vote against it.”
UN adopts new world map showing true scale of continents; only US votes against it same event · 100%
The Straits Times · 0.94 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 19 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on the same vote by the UN General Assembly to adopt a new map, with the US as the only opposing nation, on the exact same date and time.”
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Daily Mail · 0.93 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 23 📰 publisher trust 64
“Both articles report on the exact same vote by the UN General Assembly to adopt a new map with Africa bigger and North America/Europe smaller, citing the same resolution and date”
UN adopts major map reform to show true scale of continents same event · 100%
Dawn · 0.92 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 17 📰 publisher trust 72
“Both articles report on the exact same vote by the UN General Assembly on the adoption of a new map, with identical details and timing.”
While You Were Sleeping: 5 stories you might have missed, Sept 5, 2026 same event · 100%
The Straits Times · 0.90 cosine similarity
⚖️ Centre further right than this 🔴 38% hedged 5 of 13 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on the UN General Assembly voting on a resolution to adopt a new map, with similar details about the vote and the characteristics of the new map.”
A bigger Africa & a smaller Europe: What changes in new UN-backed world map same event · 100%
Times of India · 0.90 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 5% hedged 1 of 21 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe the exact same UN General Assembly vote on a resolution to adopt a new world map, with the same outcome and participation of countries”
UN votes to adopt new world map that shows Africa’s true scale same event · 100%
The Guardian · 0.89 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 3% hedged 1 of 31 📰 publisher trust 66
“Both articles report on the same UN General Assembly session, same resolution, and same vote count with identical specifics”
U.N. approves resolution in support of map that shows Africa’s true size same event · 100%
The Hindu · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 17 📰 publisher trust 60
“Both articles report on the exact same vote by the UN General Assembly on September 4, 2026, adopting a new map that makes Africa bigger and North America and Europe smaller.”
Australia and Africa expand, North America and Europe shrink: UN adopts new world map same event · 100%
The Sydney Morning Herald · 0.86 cosine similarity
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 0% hedged 0 of 26 📰 publisher trust 61
“Both articles report on the UN's vote to adopt a new map, with Africa being made bigger and North America and Europe smaller, on September 4, 2026.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
6
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans left
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
64/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
25
World
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-09-04 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 2802 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Agence France-Presse
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 202 articles by Agence France-Presse →

Topics

African Flemish Mercator The United Nations General Assembly Togo

Subjects

African NORP · 1× Flemish NORP · 1× Gerardus Mercator PERSON · 1× Robert Dussey PERSON · 1× The United Nations General Assembly ORG · 1× Togo GPE · 1×

Narrative

The US was the only vote against the resolution for a shift to the Equal Earth cartographic projection over the traditional Mercator map The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-09-04
2026-09-04 · South China Morning Post
UN adopts new map: Africa bigger, North America and Europe smaller · assertive framing

Claims (6 extracted, 0 hedged)

UN adopts new map: Africa bigger, North America and Europe smaller asserted
Africa → adopt → map
The US was the only vote against the resolution for a shift to the Equal Earth cartographic projection over the traditional Mercator map The United Nations General Assembly voted on Friday to back a resolution spearheaded by several African countries to adopt a map that makes their continent bigger while shrinking North America and Europe. asserted
continent → vote → America
Aimed at “a more accurate representation” of continental landmasses, the resolution was supported by 164 countries while the US voted against it and six other states abstained. asserted
states → aim → it
The new map – known as the Equal Earth cartographic projection – “is a relevant option for improving the accuracy of the cartographic representation of the world”, the resolution said. asserted
resolution → know → world
It urges member states to adopt the new map in place of the traditional Mercator projection, which was designed for maritime navigation by Flemish cartographer Gerardus Mercator in 1569. asserted
which → urge → 1569
Foreign Minister Robert Dussey of Togo, which drove the resolution, said maps “guide education, nourish the imagination, and influence collective perceptions”. “They are therefore never neutral, when they present a distorted image of our planet, they risk perpetuating inaccurate representation that are passed down through generation.” asserted
that → drive → generation
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