Difference Between Home and Host Country

Key Difference – Home vs Host Country
 

Host country and home country are phrases that have the opposite meanings in the context of business. In business, Home country refers to the country where the headquarters is located whereas host country refers to the foreign countries where the company invests.  This is the key difference between home country and host country.

What Does Home Country Mean?

Home country is the country in which a person was born and usually raised, irrespective of the present country of residence and citizenship. For example, suppose you were born and raised in China, but moved to England many years ago and obtained citizenship. In this situation, your home country is China. This phrase is often used by people living in a second or third country, i.e., people such as expatriates, refugees and tourists. However, in some contexts, home country can refer to the country where you live permanently. For most people, the country they are born and bred in and the country where they consider as the permanent residence is the same.

In the context of business, home country refers to the country where the headquarters is located, i.e., the country of origin.

What Does Host Country Mean?

The term host country has two different meanings. Host country can refer to the country that holds a sporting or cultural event to which others are invited. For example, the sentence ‘Brazil is the host country for 2016 Olympics’ means that Olympics was held in Brazil. Host country can also refer to a country that is not your home country. For example, imagine a Japanese student who has been studying in Russia for three years – in this scenario, Russia is his host country.

In the context of business, however, host country has another meaning. In business, host country refers to the foreign countries where the company invest. For example, suppose a business is headquartered in India, but it also has operations in South Korea, then the host country of this company would be Korea. In this sense, host country is the opposite of home country.

What is the difference between Home and Host Country?

Definition:

Home Country is the country in which a person was born and usually raised or the country where one permanently resides.

When one is born and bred in one country and resides permanently in one country, home country usually refers to the country where one was born in.

Host Country is the country that holds a sporting or cultural event to which others are invited.

In Business Context:

Home Country refers to the country where the headquarters is located.

Host Country refers to the foreign countries where the company invests.

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