The African Union (AU) has joined a campaign urging the replacement of the Mercator projection with a map that reflects the continent’s true scale.

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The AU has endorsed a campaign calling for the global adoption of the Equal Earth projection, which accurately depicts the size of Africa and other regions distorted by the Mercator map.

The Mercator projection, created in the 16th century for navigation, enlarges landmasses near the poles while shrinking those near the equator. As a result, Africa—the world’s second-largest continent by area and home to more than one billion people—appears smaller than it actually is.

“It might seem to be just a map, but in reality, it is not,” said AU Commission deputy chairperson Selma Malika Haddadi, noting that the projection has reinforced the idea of Africa as “marginal.” She stressed that such distortions shape media, education, and policy.

The Correct The Map campaign, led by advocacy groups Africa No Filter and Speak Up Africa, has revived debate on the issue, pressing governments and international organisations to adopt Equal Earth. “The current size of the map of Africa is wrong,” said Moky Makura, executive director of Africa No Filter. “It’s the world’s longest misinformation and disinformation campaign, and it just simply has to stop.”

Fara Ndiaye, co-founder of Speak Up Africa, highlighted the consequences of early exposure to the Mercator projection. “We’re actively working on promoting a curriculum where the Equal Earth projection will be the main standard across all (African) classrooms,” she said, expressing hope that it will also be adopted by global institutions.

Haddadi confirmed that the AU will discuss collective actions with its 55 member states to advance the campaign, framing it as part of a broader effort to “reclaim Africa’s rightful place on the global stage” amid growing calls for reparations for colonialism and slavery.

The Mercator projection remains widely used in schools and by technology companies. Google Maps introduced a 3D globe on its desktop platform in 2018 but retained the Mercator projection as the default on mobile. Advocacy groups are also urging the World Bank and the United Nations to adopt Equal Earth.

A World Bank spokesperson said the institution already uses the Winkel-Tripel or Equal Earth for static maps and is phasing out Mercator in web applications. The UN Committee of Experts on Global Geospatial Information Management is reviewing the campaign’s request for adoption.

Support for the initiative has also come from other regions. Dorbrene O’Marde, Vice Chair of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Reparations Commission, endorsed Equal Earth as a rejection of what he called the Mercator’s “ideology of power and dominance.”

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