Nigeria and 163 other countries have supported a United Nations resolution calling for more accurate representations of Africa and other regions on commonly used world maps.

The resolution, adopted by the UN General Assembly with 164 votes in favour, one against and six abstentions, seeks to address concerns that traditional map projections distort the relative size of continents.

The United States was the only country to vote against the resolution, while Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained.

Known formally as “Correct the Map: Rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world’s regions, particularly Africa,” the initiative was backed by the African Union and negotiated by Togo on behalf of the African Group.

Supporters of the resolution argue that conventional maps, particularly those based on the Mercator projection, can make Africa appear significantly smaller than its actual geographical size.

Africa occupies about 30 million square kilometres, making it the second-largest continent by land area and population. The campaign seeks to encourage the use of equal-area projections, including the Equal Earth map, which provides a more proportionate visual representation of continents.

Speaking during the General Assembly discussions, Togo’s Foreign Minister, Robert Dussey, said maps influence how people perceive the world and should therefore provide a fairer representation of different regions.

The resolution encourages wider adoption of equal-area maps in situations where comparing the actual sizes of countries and continents is important.

The Equal Earth projection, introduced in 2018, maintains the relative area of geographical regions and reduces the distortion associated with maps that enlarge areas closer to the poles.

The United States opposed the resolution, maintaining that the General Assembly should concentrate on more urgent international challenges.

France, however, supported the initiative and indicated that it would move away from the Mercator projection in its official world maps.

The UN decision has been welcomed by supporters of the campaign as an effort to challenge longstanding perceptions created by conventional cartography and present Africa in a way that more closely reflects its actual geographical scale.