Boundaries, names and disputed territories
Where the lines come from, why, how contested places are shown, and how names are chosen.
Disclaimer
本地圖所採用之名稱及資料呈現方式,不代表聯合國秘書處對任何國家、領土、城市或地區或其當局之法律地位,或對其疆界或邊界之劃定,表達任何意見。「他們去了哪裡」沿用此措辭:邊界取自 Natural Earth(公有領域)僅供顯示,國名依被引用之資料來源(未註明者為 UNHCR)。
Where the boundaries come from
Natural Earth, 1:50 million scale (via the world-atlas package). Natural Earth is public domain and is the de-facto standard for small-scale thematic world maps. The geometry is simplified (Visvalingam, 20 % of vertices kept, islands under 5 km² dropped) to about 165 KB so the map loads fast; it is a display layer, not a legal instrument. Statistics are joined to polygons on ISO 3166-1 alpha-3 codes, never on names.
Alternatives considered
| Option | Decision |
|---|---|
| OCHA/HDX "COD-AB global" | Rejected: it contains administrative levels 1–4 only (no country outlines), covers 111 countries, and is a 1 GB geodatabase. |
| UN Geospatial "UNmap" feature service | Candidate for a future "boundary set" switch. Licence restricted to the UN Secretariat; data frozen in 2019; colours Taiwan with China by rule. |
| FieldMaps / USGS international boundaries (UN Clear Map style) | Candidate for a future switch (public domain), requires a 357 MB GIS conversion. |
| UN Clear Map raster tiles | Possible alternative basemap later (free, CORS-enabled). |
How names are chosen
Names follow the data source being cited — UNHCR's country list — so that a citation from this site matches the upstream record. A short override table improves readability (e.g. "Syrian Arab Rep." is shown as "Syria"; "Serbia and Kosovo: S/RES/1244 (1999)" is shown as "Serbia"); wherever an override applies, the original name is displayed next to it ("Name as used by UNHCR: …"). The UNHCR name is always kept in the name field of every download.
Contested places, one by one
For each area below we state how it is drawn, what statistics (if any) attach to it, and how each source names it.
西撒哈拉 ESH
How it is shown: 以 Natural Earth 獨立 feature 繪製並上色;資料以 ISO3 ESH 連結。
Source naming: UNHCR:「Western Sahara」(code WSH, iso ESH)。聯合國:非自治領土。
喀什米爾(查謨-喀什米爾/阿克賽欽/錫亞琴)
How it is shown: Natural Earth 依實際控制線繪製;「Siachen Glacier」feature 已移除。爭議區段不附任何統計。
Source naming: UNHCR 以印度與巴基斯坦為國家報告;無喀什米爾獨立條目。
巴勒斯坦(西岸與加薩) PSE
How it is shown: 以獨立 feature(NE id 275 → PSE)繪製並以 UNHCR 資料上色。附註說明 UNRWA 登記之巴勒斯坦難民(約 600 萬)不含於 UNHCR 數字。
Source naming: UNHCR:「State of Palestine」(code GAZ, iso PSE)。世界銀行:「West Bank and Gaza」。UN WPP:「State of Palestine」。
克里米亞
How it is shown: Natural Earth 50m(world-atlas 2.0.2)將克里米亞繪為烏克蘭一部分。資料連結至 UKR。
Source naming: UNHCR 以烏克蘭(UKR)整體報告。
科索沃 XKX
How it is shown: 以 Natural Earth 獨立 feature(id −99 → XKX)繪製。UNHCR 無單獨數字(併入「Serbia and Kosovo: S/RES/1244 (1999)」),故科索沃以「無資料」灰呈現並附註;塞爾維亞數字含科索沃。
Source naming: UNHCR:「Serbia and Kosovo: S/RES/1244 (1999)」(iso SRB)。UN WPP 單列科索沃(XKX)。
北賽普勒斯
How it is shown: 繪出邊界(Natural Earth feature「N. Cyprus」)但永不上色;賽普勒斯資料連結至 CYP。
Source naming: UNHCR 僅報告賽普勒斯(CYP)。
索馬利蘭
How it is shown: 繪出邊界(Natural Earth feature「Somaliland」)但永不上色;索馬利亞資料連結至 SOM。
Source naming: UNHCR 僅報告索馬利亞(SOM)。
台灣 TWN
How it is shown: 以 Natural Earth 獨立 feature(id 158 → TWN)繪製並標示「台灣」。UNHCR 統計完全未列台灣(無數字亦無併入註記),故以「無資料」灰呈現,tooltip 顯示「UNHCR 未單獨統計」。人口取自 UN WPP,該處名稱為「China, Taiwan Province of China」。
Source naming: UNHCR:不存在。世界銀行:不存在。UN WPP:「China, Taiwan Province of China」(id 158, iso3 TWN)。Natural Earth:「Taiwan」。
What "no data" means
Grey on the map means not reported for that year and metric — not zero, and not "no displaced people". Some drawn territories are not UNHCR reporting entities at all (Taiwan, Kosovo, Greenland, several dependencies): they show a tooltip "Not separately reported by UNHCR". Conversely, a few UNHCR entities have no polygon here (Martinique, Gibraltar, Tuvalu, the pseudo-entities "Stateless" and "Unknown"): they are listed in the legend's "cannot be shown on the map" chip and included in every total, table and download. The validation step guarantees mapped total + unmappable total = global total every day.
Report an issue with a boundary or name
Write to [email protected] with the area, what you see, and (if relevant) the source naming you think should apply. Changes are recorded in the repository history.