Interactive projection study
New World Map: What Equal Earth Changes
The Earth did not change. The way it is flattened did. Equal Earth presents land areas in correct proportion while Mercator enlarges high-latitude regions.
What is the new world map?
The phrase usually refers to renewed interest in equal-area projections such as Equal Earth, rather than a change to countries or borders.
Why does Africa look bigger?
Africa is not enlarged on Equal Earth. It only appears smaller on Mercator because Mercator enlarges regions toward the poles.
Did the world map actually change?
No. A projection is a mathematical method for representing a spherical Earth on a flat surface, and every flat projection distorts something.
Why does Greenland look smaller?
Greenland is about 2.17 million km², compared with Africa at about 30.37 million km². Equal-area maps make that approximate fourteen-to-one relationship visible.
Primary sources and method
Map geometry uses Natural Earth 1:110m boundaries. Projection math uses D3’s spherical implementations. Area values are rounded and may vary slightly with coastline, inland-water, and boundary conventions.
- Natural Earth 1:110m country boundaries
- Equal Earth projection project
- D3 geographic projections
- United Nations Statistics area data
- African Union area reference
Published September 7, 2026 · Last reviewed September 7, 2026