New Delhi: The initiative to prepare a more accurate and area-wise balanced map of the world in the United Nations has received the support of 164 countries including India. Voting was held on Friday on the ‘Equal Area Map Projection’ proposal presented by the African country Togo. Of the 193 member states, 164 voted in favor of the resolution, while the US voted against it. Some countries did not participate in the voting.
India has also made its stand clear regarding this proposal. The Ministry of External Affairs said on Sunday that in the world map prepared under this United Nations initiative, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh should be shown in line with the official map of India. The ministry clarified that any false or misleading portrayal related to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country will not be accepted.
India also gave the reason for supporting the proposal
External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said India had voted in favor of the resolution. However, India does not endorse any particular world map, mapping technology or any particular way of showing national boundaries. He said that in its clarification, India has supported the principle of promoting ‘equal area’ mapping techniques in which the areas of different landmasses are shown in actual proportions.
Jaiswal also clarified that the proposal is not related to political mapping of international boundaries or disputed areas. Its main objective is to promote mapping methods that show the area of continents and countries in more realistic proportions.
Why did the demand for changing the world map arise?
The Mercator map, long used in the world, was created in 1569. In this, the areas near the poles appear much larger than their actual size. This is the reason why Africa also appears smaller than its actual size, although its area is about 14 times more than that of Greenland.
To remove this inequality, ‘Equal Earth’ map was prepared in 2018. It was adopted by all 54 countries of the African Union in February 2026. Now Togo has proposed to promote similar ‘equal area’ mapping at the United Nations level with the support of African countries. Estonia, Georgia, Lithuania, Moldova, Serbia and Ukraine abstained, while the United States cast the sole vote against the resolution.