Both words refer to both concepts.
country
- A nation or state.
- The territory of a nation or state; land.
- The people of a nation or state; populace.
nation
- A relatively large group of people organized under a single, usually independent government; a country.
- The territory occupied by such a group of people.
- The government of a sovereign state.
This definition is not fully correct. A nation does not need to have a government. For example the Kurds
Yes but my point is that he’s not using the wrong word.
Edit: also Kurdistan exists
Kurdistan doesn’t really have a central government like that, nor fixed or well defined borders. Keep in mind that the concept of a “Nation State” is really only a couple hundred years old.
If that counterexample doesn’t satisfy you, then Somalia should. It is a country without a functioning government, which has two nations inside of them of the northern and southern Somalians which are completely different, and neither of which have any sort of unifying government.