The same issue applied with the USSR. "CItizens of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics" is a bit of a mouthful. They often got referred to as "the Russians", but of course many of them weren't Russians at all. The other term in use was "the Soviets" - in way a parallel is calling the USA "the States", but no one ever calls its inhabitants "the Staters".

The USSR ended the problem when they abolished the country ( though I'm not suggesting that was the reason they did that). But that would be a bit drastic.