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Life & fun · September 11, 2026

Mercator vs. UN's new Equal Earth map, synced side by side

Compare the old Mercator world map with the new Equal Earth map side by side. Pan or zoom one map and the other follows — see every country

Mercator vs. UN's new Equal Earth map, synced side by side launched on September 11, 2026 with 8 votes, #1,111 of 8,093 launches that month and more than 75% of that year's launches.

Visit newworldsize.com ↗Alternativestop 14% of September 2026

What it does

The Mercator projection (1569) keeps compass bearings straight — perfect for 16th-century sailors, misleading for comparing country sizes. Area inflation grows toward the poles, so Canada, Russia and Greenland balloon while equatorial regions shrink. The Equal Earth projection (2018, adopted by the UN for its maps in 2026) keeps the familiar oval look of older world maps but shows area correctly everywhere. Same planet, same data — different answer to "which is bigger". Both maps below show the same world. Pan or zoom on either map and the other follows — that is the point: the only thing that changes between them is the projection. Drag a country from either map to test any comparison…from newworldsize.com

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