Japan, India, Ukraine: Why some countries are uneasy about new UN map

The UN General Assembly last week backed a resolution encouraging use of the Equal Earth map projection, a move driven in part by advocacy from the African Union, which adopted the map earlier in February. The resolution was approved overwhelmingly — 164 countries in favour — with the United States the only recorded vote against and six countries abstaining. The text encourages member states to consider the Equal Earth projection but does not ban existing projections such as Mercator.

Supporters of the change say the Equal Earth projection better represents land area relationships than the traditional Mercator projection, produced in 1569 by Gerardus Mercator. Critics of Mercator have long argued it enlarges regions closer to the poles while diminishing equatorial regions, making Africa and other developing areas appear smaller than they are; for example, Greenland is commonly depicted about the size of Africa on Mercator maps despite Africa being able to contain Greenland roughly 14 times over. Equal-area projections like Equal Earth aim to correct those distortions.

Despite broad support for the principle of a less distorted world map, some nations have flagged problems with how the Equal Earth projection depicts specific disputed territories. Ukraine abstained from the vote and told the assembly it had sought corrections, saying the map shades the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula in a color that appears closer to Russia’s than Ukraine’s. Japan, which voted in favour of the resolution, has asked the creators of Equal Earth to change the depiction because the map uses the same colours for Russian territory and the disputed Kuril Islands, which Tokyo contests. India also voted for the resolution but published a caveat about how the projection shows the contested Kashmir border area.

Those complaints underline a central tension: while the resolution seeks to remedy continental-area distortions, the choice of colours and boundary depictions on a global map can carry diplomatic weight. Kyiv, Tokyo and New Delhi have all requested adjustments or issued formal caveats, and Ukrainian officials said requests for changes were not accommodated before the vote. Japan’s government said its embassy in the United States contacted the map’s creators about perceived contradictions with Tokyo’s territorial position. The resolution’s encouragement of Equal Earth does not by itself settle these territorial representation disputes, leaving implementation and any revisions to ongoing technical and diplomatic exchanges.