The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution last week encouraging member states to adopt the Equal Earth projection map in place of the widely-used Mercator projection. The vote passed with 164 nations in favor, six abstentions, and one opposition from the United States. The move followed months of advocacy from the African Union, which had itself adopted the new map earlier in the year.
The Equal Earth projection, created by researchers in 2018, aims to address long-standing concerns about geographic distortions in the Mercator projection. The traditional Mercator map, developed in 1569, significantly exaggerates the size of landmasses near the poles while shrinking equatorial regions. This means Europe and the United States appear disproportionately large compared to Africa and other developing nations. For example, Greenland appears roughly equal in size to Africa on Mercator maps, when Africa is actually 14 times larger. Cartographers and African activists have argued that these distortions reinforce negative perceptions of the African continent.
Despite the resolution’s broad support, three countries that voted in favor have subsequently expressed concerns about how the new map depicts disputed territories. Ukraine abstained from the vote along with five other nations, objecting to how the Equal Earth projection portrays Russian-occupied Crimea in a shade closer to Russian territory than Ukrainian territory. Ukrainian officials stated they had requested corrections before the vote but did not receive satisfactory responses. Japan and India, both of which voted for the resolution, have also registered complaints. Japan objected to the map’s treatment of the Kuril Islands, which Russia administers but Japan claims as its Northern Territories. India similarly raised concerns about the depiction of Kashmir, a region disputed among India, Pakistan, and China.
UN officials clarified that the resolution merely encourages adoption of the Equal Earth projection and does not mandate its use or ban other map projections. Countries remain free to use alternative representations. However, the territorial disputes highlighted by these nations underscore how cartographic choices can carry geopolitical significance and reflect contested claims to land.
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