welfare state

English

Etymology

Compound of welfare +‎ state.

Noun

welfare state (plural welfare states)

1. A social system in which the state takes overall responsibility for the welfare of its citizens, providing health care, education, unemployment benefits and social security.
   • 2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly‎^[1], volume 188, number 23, page 19:

     In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. The welfare state is dismantled. Essential public services are cut so that the rich may pay less tax. […]

   • 2024 August 18, Jörg Michael Dostal, “Left Conservatism: Sahra Wagenknecht's Challenge to the German Party System”, in The Political Quarterly, volume 95, number 4, →DOI, page 641 of 634–644:

     Wagenknecht […] argues further that a policy of high migration enforces a minimal welfare state that is ‘cheaper for the upper and upper middle classes in comparison to a real welfare state, but it is not an attractive project for the middle and lower middle groups. Thus, if one wants to remove support for social provisions, this is exactly the way to do it’.

2. A country in which such a system operates.

Derived terms

• welfare stater
• welfare statism

Translations

social system in which the state takes overall responsibility for the welfare of its citizens

• Afrikaans: welvaartstaat (af)
• Azerbaijani: rifah dövləti
• Bengali: কল্যাণ রাষ্ট্র (kollan raśṭro)
• Catalan: estat del benestar m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 福利國家 / 福利国家 (zh) (fúlì guójiā)

• Czech: sociální stát m
• Danish: velfærdssamfund n, velfærdsstat c
• Dutch: verzorgingsstaat (nl) m, welvaartsstaat (nl) m (chiefly Belgium)
• Finnish: hyvinvointivaltio (fi)
• French: État-providence (fr) m
• German: Wohlfahrtsstaat (de) m
• Greek: κράτος πρόνοιας (el) n (krátos prónoias)
• Hungarian: jóléti állam
• Indonesian: negara kesejahteraan (id)
• Italian: Stato sociale m, Stato assistenziale m
• Japanese: 福祉国家 (ja) (ふくしこっか, fukushi kokka)
• Korean: 복지국가(福祉國家) (ko) (bokjigukga)
• Macedonian: соција́лна др́жава f (socijálna dŕžava)
• Malay: negara kebajikan
• Malayalam: ക്ഷേമരാഷ്ട്രം (kṣēmarāṣṭraṁ)
• Maori: whenua tokoora
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: velferdsstat (no) m

  Nynorsk: velferdsstat m

• Persian: دولت رفاه
• Polish: państwo opiekuńcze n
• Portuguese: estado de bem-estar m, estado de bem-estar social m, estado assistencial m
• Russian: социа́льное госуда́рство n (sociálʹnoje gosudárstvo)
• Spanish: estado de bienestar m, estado del bienestar m, estado benefactor m
• Swedish: välfärdsstat (sv) c, folkhem (sv) n
• Vietnamese: nhà nước phúc lợi
• Welsh: gwladwriaeth les f
• West Frisian: fersoargingssteat c

country in which such a system operates

• Afrikaans: welvaartstaat (af)
• Azerbaijani: rifah dövləti
• Bengali: কল্যাণ রাষ্ট্র (kollan raśṭro)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 福利國家 / 福利国家 (zh) (fúlì guójiā)

• Czech: sociální stát m
• Danish: velfærdsstat c
• Dutch: verzorgingsstaat (nl) m, welvaartsstaat (nl) m (chiefly Belgium)
• Finnish: hyvinvointivaltio (fi)
• French: État-providence (fr) m
• German: Wohlfahrtsstaat (de) m
• Hungarian: jóléti állam
• Indonesian: negara kesejahteraan (id)
• Japanese: 福祉国家 (ja) (ふくしこっか, fukushi kokka)
• Korean: 복지국가(福祉國家) (ko) (bokjigukga)
• Macedonian: соција́лна др́жава f (socijálna dŕžava)
• Malay: negara kebajikan
• Malayalam: ക്ഷേമരാഷ്ട്രം (kṣēmarāṣṭraṁ)
• Norwegian: velferdsstat (no)
• Persian: دولت رفاه
• Polish: państwo opiekuńcze n
• Portuguese: estado de bem-estar m, estado de bem-estar social m, estado assistencial m
• Russian: социа́льное госуда́рство n (sociálʹnoje gosudárstvo)
• Spanish: estado del bienestar m, estado benefactor
• Swedish: välfärdsstat (sv) c
• Vietnamese: nhà nước phúc lợi
• Welsh: gwladwriaeth les f
• West Frisian: fersoargingssteat c