Paris Adopts New World Map: Why France Looks Smaller Now

French Diplomacy Drops Mercator for Eckert IV

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced the policy shift during a speech at the Sorbonne university during the public event “La Fabrique de la diplomatie” (“The making of diplomacy”). According to Barrot, maps inherited from Western navigators are not entirely neutral. He noted that the Mercator projection gives countries like the United States, Russia, and China a disproportionate visual importance.

To illustrate the distortion, Barrot pointed out that Greenland appears nearly as vast as the entire African continent on traditional maps, even though it roughly matches the size of Algeria or the Democratic Republic of Congo. By switching to the Eckert IV projection—created in 1906—France will more accurately reflect the true proportions of the continents, even if countries like the United States or Russia appear smaller on the map compared with countries close to the equator.

United Nations Adopts Equal Earth Projection

The announcement in Paris coincides with a global shift at the United Nations in New York, where the General Assembly officially voted to abandon the Mercator projection in favor of the Equal Earth model, created in 2018. According to the UN, a non-binding resolution entitled “Correcting the map” and sponsored by Togo secured backing from 164 member states.

The African Union had already adopted the Equal Earth projection in March, and the new text now encourages countries to do the same. However, the resolution faced pushback. The United States voted against the measure, denouncing it as a “radical ideological project” due to a passage in the resolution stating that “correcting cartographic distortions relating to the size of continents constitutes an act of cognitive justice and memorial reparation.” Meanwhile, six countries—Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine—abstained from the vote.

Classrooms and Digital Platforms Stick to Tradition

Despite high-level diplomatic changes, traditional maps remain deeply rooted in everyday use. According to Grégory, a senior history and geography teacher in Rennes speaking to Euronews, most world maps in French schools are still in Mercator, with equal-area alternatives like Eckert or Peters appearing only rarely in textbooks.

Digital platforms such as Google Maps also currently use a version of this projection. French diplomats nevertheless acknowledge that the Mercator projection remains relevant “in a limited number of cases”, including regional or local uses around the equatorial zone, as well as for navigation charts. The UN similarly stresses that the resolution does not ban the Mercator projection, “nor does it impose a single map”, leaving the door open for multiple projections depending on technical needs.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Mercator projection being replaced?

According to French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot and UN resolutions, the Mercator projection artificially enlarges polar regions and visually downplays the size of equatorial areas.

What map projections are replacing Mercator?

France has therefore joined this movement, but has opted to adopt the Eckert IV projection, created in 1906, while the United Nations General Assembly has officially abandoned the Mercator projection in favour of a projection based on the Equal Earth model, created in 2018. Both models preserve the true proportions of continental surface areas.

Does this mean old maps are banned?

No. The UN stresses that the resolution does not ban the Mercator projection, “nor does it impose a single map”. Traditional projections remain useful for specific applications like navigation charts and regional or local uses around the equatorial zone.