How to read this
The score
Years are General Assembly sessions: “1985” is the 40th session, which opened in September 1985 and closed in 1986. Special and emergency special sessions count toward the session in progress on their meeting date.
Borders
Each session is drawn on the borders in force on the median date of its contested votes (the date by which half had been cast), from CShapes 2.0. Borders after 2019, CShapes’ last year, are the 2019 borders extended; they do not show the occupation of parts of Ukraine since 2022.
The Ukrainian and Byelorussian SSRs held their own UN seats from 1945; they are drawn on their 1991 borders (Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954). Territory held without UN recognition — Crimea, the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, Western Sahara and East Timor (1976–2002) — is hatched separately rather than coloured with the controlling state. Places CShapes omits, such as Greenland and many small islands before independence, are filled from Natural Earth. Hong Kong and Macau are included in China throughout.
Special cases
- Until October 1971 China’s seat was held by the Republic of China. For 1946–1949, when that government ruled the mainland, all of China takes the seat’s score; for 1950–1970 Taiwan does, and the mainland is patterned as represented by it.
- The USSR and Russia, and Yugoslavia and Serbia, share one seat record in the data. On the line chart, predecessor periods (e.g. West Germany before 1990) are dashed.
- “Did not vote” is usually a state that lost its vote for unpaid dues (UN Charter Article 19). South Africa was barred from participating 1974–1994.
- The 19th session (1964) held no recorded votes during the dispute over Article 19.
- Data ends with the 77th session (to September 2023).