VOI World/ Desk
The UN Resolution for More Accurate World Maps has received India’s support, with New Delhi backing a General Assembly measure aimed at promoting fairer cartographic representation and addressing distortions in the way continents are shown.
The 193-member UN General Assembly adopted the Togo-sponsored resolution, titled “Correcting the Map”, with 164 votes in favour. Six countries — Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine — abstained, while the United States voted against the resolution.
The measure highlights concerns over traditional map projections, particularly the Mercator projection, which was designed in the 16th century for navigation and remains widely used in education, media and official material. The resolution notes that such projections can distort the relative size of landmasses, particularly in relation to regions near the equator.
It also expressed concern that these distortions can minimise the perceived sizes of Africa, Latin America and South Asia, contributing to what it described as an unbalanced representation of the world.
India, however, clarified that its support should not be seen as an endorsement of any single map projection. Raghunath Puri, First Secretary at India’s Permanent Mission to the UN, said New Delhi understood the resolution as supporting broader use and consideration of Equal Area projections rather than promoting one specific alternative.
Equal Area projections preserve the relative sizes of continents and territories, although they may distort other geographical characteristics such as shape, direction or distance.
Puri said no single projection is suitable for every purpose, as different maps serve different cartographic needs. India therefore stressed that the resolution should remain technologically and methodologically neutral.
The UN Resolution for More Accurate World Maps seeks to encourage more accurate cartographic representation while allowing countries, institutions and mapmakers to choose projections according to their specific requirements.
