India on Sunday supported a UN General Assembly resolution calling for greater use of equal-area world maps, while making it clear that its vote should not be interpreted as approval of any particular map projection or the way national borders are represented.
The clarification followed the UN General Assembly’s adoption of a resolution titled “Correct the Map: Rebalancing Global Cartographic Representation and Promoting Equitable Representation of the World’s Regions, Particularly Africa” on September 4. The resolution encourages the use of equal-area map projections that accurately reflect the relative sizes of continents and land masses.
MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India voted in favour of the resolution and explained its position, emphasising the importance of equal-area cartographic representation.
“The resolution neither adopts nor authenticates any particular world map, nor does it address political cartography, including international boundaries, disputed territories or place names,” Jaiswal said.
India also reiterated its position on how its territory should be represented, stating that its sovereign territory, including the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, must be depicted according to the country’s official map.
“Any inaccurate or misleading depiction is unacceptable,” Jaiswal said, stressing that India’s stance on its sovereignty and territorial integrity remained “clear, consistent and non-negotiable”.
The UN resolution promotes wider adoption of equal-area projections, which represent countries and continents according to their actual surface areas. It does not prohibit the commonly used Mercator projection or legally require governments, schools, publishers or technology companies to switch to another mapping system.
WHAT IS THE UN MAP RESOLUTION ABOUT?
The resolution was introduced by Togo and supported by the African Union, which has long raised concerns that conventional Mercator maps distort the relative size of land masses. It encourages the use of equal-area projections in education, public communication and other settings where accurate comparisons between the sizes of countries and continents are important.
Created in 1569, the Mercator projection was primarily developed for navigation and preserves directions and angles. However, it increasingly exaggerates the size of land masses located farther from the equator. This makes Africa appear significantly smaller in comparison with northern parts of the world than it actually is.
The Equal Earth projection, introduced in 2018, was designed to maintain the relative areas of land masses while keeping their shapes recognisable. With this projection, Africa appears substantially larger, while Europe and North America are shown as smaller than they typically appear on Mercator maps.
The UN vote does not mean maps around the world will change immediately. Since the resolution is non-binding, its practical effect will depend on whether governments, educational bodies, publishers and digital platforms voluntarily choose to adopt equal-area projections.
