Gall-Peters, Mollweide, Eckert IV – take your pick. There are plenty of world maps that show Africa in closer proportion to its true size, and today the UN General Assembly will vote on a resolution encouraging governments, schools, and international organizations to use them. Led by Togo and backed by the African Union, the push targets the centuries-old Mercator projection, which dramatically enlarges landmasses farther from the equator. The vote is nonbinding, but supporters hope it will make more proportional maps the global norm.
Hard Numbers
Africa, unshrunk
Will Fitzpatrick
By Will FitzpatrickSeptember 04, 2026
Will Fitzpatrick
Will Fitzpatrick is a multimedia reporter and producer at GZERO, where he does a little bit of everything: writing for the GZERO Daily, creating social videos, producing GZERO World, and whatever else the news cycle throws his way.
Before GZERO, Will worked in documentary film on both the production and post-production sides, including on Everest: The Other Side and on The First Wave. He has also directed and produced two short documentaries of his own. Outside the film world, Will has worked as a freelance journalist, with reporting that has taken him from the dhow workshops of Oman to the mountains of Patagonia, with plenty of stops in between. He’s especially interested in the niche, hard-to-reach, and underreported stories that reveal something bigger about how the world works.
Will studied economics and world politics at Hamilton College and received his Master’s in journalism from New York University. When he's not reporting, you can likely find Will tending to his oyster farm, on a bike, or somewhere outdoors.
