Multinational state

 

a multinational state is a country that has citizens of many different ethnic groups.  These ethnic groups would see themselves as fundamentally different from other groups within their same country. A multinational state is a sovereign state which is viewed as comprising two or more nations. Such a state contrasts with a nation-state where a single nation comprises the bulk of the population.

                                             

 

 

 

                                              Nation state

A nation-state, by contrast, is one where the country has only one ethnic group.  Perhaps the clearest example of such a state today would be Japan since only ethnic Japanese are considered to truly be full citizens of that country.