QUOTE: Isn't it backward in the UK? I mean the UK is a state made up of four countries. Or should I say a state made up of four nations? END QUOTE
Ah, the great question! You could probably ask ten people this and get ten different answers. It all depends on what you class as a "country". Personally, as far as I'm concerned if you can be a national (note: not a citizen) of a "nation" and that "nation" issues passports, then it's a country.
On that basis, England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales are not technically "countries" because there is no such thing as an English/Scottish/N Irish/Welsh passport! You can only have a UK passport and therefore the United Kingdom is a country, made up of four regions.
Needless to say, and without wishing to start any kind of controversy, there are of course many people from each of the four regions who would identify themselves as English/Scottish/N Irish/Welsh, instead of British. However, from a purely legal basis, when asked for their nationality, there is only one correct answer: British (which actually means the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give it its full name).
The previous poster explained the N Irish nationality situation very well, as per the Good Friday Agreement.