nationality
This term functions as a legal and administrative label, often appearing on passports and official documents to define a person's relationship with a sovereign state. It carries a weight of officialdom and citizenship, focusing on the legal right to protection and the duty of loyalty to a government. In social contexts, it can overlap with ethnic identity, but it specifically denotes the geopolitical boundary of one's origin. While ethnicity refers to shared culture or ancestry, nationality is the formal designation of which country claims a person as its own.
Countable when referring to different types of citizenships held by a person, such as having two nationalities. Uncountable when referring to the general concept of national identity.