New Delhi: India has voted in favour of a UN General Assembly resolution calling for changes to the way the world is represented on maps, with the aim of providing a “more accurate representation” of continental landmasses.
The 193-member UN General Assembly on Friday overwhelmingly adopted the resolution titled ‘“Correct the map”: rebalancing global cartographic representation and promoting equitable representation of the world’s regions, particularly Africa’.
The resolution, sponsored by Togo, received 164 votes in favour. Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained, while the United States was the only country to vote against it.
The resolution pointed out that the Mercator projection, created in the 16th century mainly for navigation, is still widely used in schools, media, digital platforms and official materials. However, it significantly distorts the size of landmasses located farther from the equator.
It also expressed “concern” that “this distortion contributes to minimising the perceived sizes of Africa, Latin America and South Asia, and perpetuating an unbalanced view of the world.”
Speaking in the General Assembly after the vote, Raghoo Puri, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said India “welcomes” the resolution’s aim of encouraging more accurate and representative maps.
“We believe that maps play an important role in how societies understand geography and the relative scale of the world around us,” he said.
However, India also clarified its position on the type of map projection the resolution supports.
“We believe that the resolution should be understood as supporting the broader use and consideration of Equal Area map projections, and not as endorsing the Equal Earth projection or any other specific map projection.”