Good comparison, thanks, helps put it into perspective.

Either of these better titles or no?

“…from Ghana, Africa…”

“…from Africa’s Ghana…”

(China, Asia & Asia’s China don’t really fit so probably not?)

Or how about just “from Ghana”?

My guess is the editor is banking on people not knowing where Ghana is. Hence the "Africa".

The Asia comparison would work better if instead of talking about China we were talking about Laos.

Really? I don't think that's the real reason why.

Definitely not. Ghana, Africa is phrased as though Ghana were a city in the country of Africa.

True, although Asia is also nearly twice the size of Africa, which might have something to do with that.

And Africa is more than twice the size of Europe, it is fair to complain that they don’t just put Ghana in the title. It is not that the title is unacceptable but it is just wrong and weird

Africa's GDP is also 1/10th of Europe's...

And Canada's population is 1/20th that of Europe, yet we all know where that is.

No need to cherry-pick some random metric and try and justify a point that's not worth justifying.

Maybe the English-speaking world. I think most people couldn't place Canada on a map. More people than Ghana or any African country, certainly, but that's because it's more famous. GDP is more correlated to this than population or landmass.

I'm not justifying anything. I also think it's more polite to say "Ghana" rather than "Africa". I just don't agree with the arguments.

Canada is the second-largest country in the world, so if you know that it's in the north and, um, not Russia, you stand a pretty good chance at picking it out. (Doubly so if you just know it's in the Americas.)

Now, if you asked the same about Pakistan or Nigeria (#5 and #6 in terms of population, but far smaller and with far shorter sea borders), I'd bet that far fewer people would be able to pinpoint those with the same accuracy (whether in the English-speaking world or not).

> if you know that it's in the north and, um, not Russia

You still need to know that it's the second-largest country in the world though

I am fairly certain that most people in the non-English speaking world will also be able to place Canada on the map - I'd assume the French know exactly where Canada is. But I digress; it's not about placing a country on a map. It's more about we know that Canada is a separate country, and it has an identity distinct from other countries in its continent.

This goes beyond mere politeness; that you used this word is a bit suggestive. Refusing to acknowledge an identity is far more than just a lack of politeness.

Do not use the Mercator for area comparison. You are off by 15 million square kilometers.

Asia is only ~50% larger than Africa.