Mercator vs Equal Earth

The UN General Assembly has just endorsed a new position on world maps that aims to represent the relative size of the world's land masses more accurately, with the difference being particularly obvious when you compare Africa and Greenland. The resolution, backed by 164 countries, promotes the use of equal-area projections such as Equal Earth as an alternative to the familiar Mercator projection.

So, naturally, I made a map.

Mercator vs Equal Earth

Rather than simply putting the two projections side-by-side, this interactive map lets you watch one transform into the other. Click Mercator or Equal Earth to switch between them, or sit back and let the map automatically tween between the two.

And the transformation is quite revealing.

On the Mercator projection, the world's high latitudes are dramatically enlarged. Greenland is the obvious example: on the map it looks almost comparable in size to Africa. In reality, Africa is around 14 times larger than Greenland.

As the map morphs into Equal Earth, Greenland shrinks while Africa expands. Europe and North America also become noticeably smaller relative to the land masses around the equator.

This isn't because Equal Earth is somehow making Africa bigger. Africa was always that big. It is Mercator that makes it look disproportionately small in comparison with countries and continents at higher latitudes.

Also see this side-by-side comparison map.