Key Points:
164 countries voted in favour of the non-binding resolution to adopt Equal Earth map, while the US voted against it and six countries abstained.
The Equal Earth projection addresses the size distortion of the Mercator map, particularly the way Africa appears compared with Greenland.
India supported the new map but objected to the depiction of Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin
THE UNITED NATIONS has adopted a new world map under its resolution in which member countries voted to adopt the Equal Earth projection. According to the UN, the new map reflects the actual size of landmasses, continents, and countries more accurately than the previously used Mercator map. The proposal was given by African countries and was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, September 4, 2026.
During the voting, a total of 164 countries voted in favour of the resolution, while one country, the United States, voted against it. The US dismissed the resolution as part of a “radical ideological project.” Six countries abstained from voting: Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia, and Ukraine. While the new map is non-binding and does not replace the earlier one, the UN encourages governments, schools, international organisations, and technology companies to use the new map.
The map previously used was the Mercator projection, which was created by Gerardus Mercator, a Flemish cartographer, in 1569 to solve a problem with maritime navigation. However, there was a problem with the map: to preserve the direction of the map, the size of landmasses had to be compromised. Landmasses appeared larger the farther they were from the equator. One example of this is Greenland and Africa.
Africa is about 14 times larger than Greenland, but they appear roughly the same size on the previously used map, and hence the issue was raised by African countries. In the resolution, they mentioned that the earlier unbalanced world map contributed to the “symbolic minimization” of the world. The negotiations from Africa were led by Togo, a country in West Africa, which built a campaign backed by the African Union.
According to the United Nations, the resolution described correcting the earlier map as “cognitive justice and memorial reparation.” Robert Dussey, the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Togo, introduced the draft resolution on the new map and emphasized that by asking for the new map, they were not neglecting the usefulness of the Mercator projection for navigation. “A fair map does not change the geography of the world, it changes how we see the world,” he said.
The United States, however, said that the idea is not as simple as it looks and is part of a “much larger and more radical ideological project.” According to the US, the idea mocks the work and purpose of the United Nations and called it “barnacles on our work here and the reason this institution is losing its credibility.”
While many countries accepted the idea and the distortion affecting Africa and some parts of the Global South, they also objected to how parts of their territories were projected. Ukraine said that it supports the efforts but objected to how some maps using the Equal Earth projection show parts of Ukraine as territory occupied by Russia. The European Union also addressed the same concern.
India also raised concerns over how its territory was projected on the new map. The problem India has is with how the new UN map, which was published on July 1, 2026, has projected India’s Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin region of Jammu and Kashmir, making the regions appear to be caught between Indian and Chinese claims.
In both areas, the labels “Chinese Line” and “Indian Line” are used, making the territories appear as though their boundaries are disputed.
While speaking to the media on Sunday, September 6, 2026, India’s Ministry of External Affairs reiterated that India supported the new map but also declared that “India’s sovereign territory, including the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, must be depicted in accordance with India’s official map. Any inaccurate or misleading depiction is unacceptable.”
(Edited by Harsh Pandey)
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