The U.N. voted to promote map projections that more accurately represent the world, drawing official opposition from the U.S.

The UN has endorsed a new world map using the Equal Earth projection. See how the map compares and why Africa gains the most relative size.

The most widely used global map is almost 500 years old and was designed for navigation. But landmasses near the poles look ...

The Togo-sponsored resolution was backed by 164 nations - the US the only nation to vote against it.

It is the culmination of a recent campaign led by African countries and advocacy groups to reject 'cartographic colonialism'.

The UN resolution instead endorses use of the Equal Earth projection, which better shows the relative sizes of land masses.

The U.S. was the only nation to oppose a new world map that more accurately reflects the size of Africa and other regions.

Equal Earth is ontworpen om landen in hun werkelijke relatieve grootte weer te geven en is een VN-initiatief onder leiding van Togo met steun van de Afrikaanse Unie bij de VN.

However, the Mercator map comes with the trade-off of showing inaccurate sizes for continents. Landmasses become artificially ...

Pick which country is bigger, then watch it morph from Mercator to Equal Earth projection to see how close you were.

The widely-used Mercator map is often criticised for visually exaggerating and centralising Western nations.