Meanings
nounwelfare state (plural welfare states)
plural welfare states
- A national level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility, providing health care, education, unemployment benefits and social security.
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. […]
2013 May 17, George Monbiot, “Money just makes the rich suffer”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 188, number 23, page 191 more example
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’.
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 - A country in which such a system operates.
Origin
Translations
Afrikaans welvaartstaat, welvaartstaat
- welvaartstaatnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- welvaartstaatcountry in which such a system operates
Bengali কল্যাণ রাষ্ট্র, কল্যাণ রাষ্ট্র
- কল্যাণ রাষ্ট্র (kollan raśṭro)national level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- কল্যাণ রাষ্ট্র (kollan raśṭro)country in which such a system operates
Catalan estat del benestar
- estat del benestarnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
Chinese Mandarin 福利國家 /福利国家, 福利國家 /福利国家
- 福利國家 /福利国家 (fúlì guójiā)national level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- 福利國家 /福利国家 (fúlì guójiā)country in which such a system operates
Czech sociální stát, sociální stát
- sociální státnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- sociální státcountry in which such a system operates
Danish velfærdssamfund, velfærdsstat
- velfærdssamfundnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- velfærdsstatnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- velfærdsstatcountry in which such a system operates
Dutch verzorgingsstaat, welvaartsstaat
- verzorgingsstaatnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- welvaartsstaatnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- verzorgingsstaatcountry in which such a system operates
- welvaartsstaatcountry in which such a system operates
Finnish hyvinvointivaltio, hyvinvointivaltio
- hyvinvointivaltionational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- hyvinvointivaltiocountry in which such a system operates
French État-providence, État-providence
- État-providencenational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- État-providencecountry in which such a system operates
German Wohlfahrtsstaat, Wohlfahrtsstaat
- Wohlfahrtsstaatnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- Wohlfahrtsstaatcountry in which such a system operates
Greek κράτος πρόνοιας
- κράτος πρόνοιας (krátos prónoias)national level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
Hungarian jóléti állam, jóléti állam
- jóléti államnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- jóléti államcountry in which such a system operates
Indonesian negara kesejahteraan, negara kesejahteraan
- negara kesejahteraannational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- negara kesejahteraancountry in which such a system operates
Italian Stato sociale, Stato assistenziale
- Stato socialenational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- Stato assistenzialenational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
Japanese 福祉国家, 福祉国家
- 福祉国家 (fukushi kokka)national level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- 福祉国家 (fukushi kokka)country in which such a system operates
Korean 복지국가, 복지국가
- 복지국가 (bokjigukga)national level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- 복지국가 (bokjigukga)country in which such a system operates
Malay negara kebajikan, negara kebajikan
- negara kebajikannational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- negara kebajikancountry in which such a system operates
Māori whenua tokoora
- whenua tokooranational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
Norwegian velferdsstat
- velferdsstatcountry in which such a system operates
Norwegian Bokmål velferdsstat
- velferdsstatnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
Persian دولت رفاه, دولت رفاه
- دولت رفاهnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- دولت رفاهcountry in which such a system operates
Polish państwo opiekuńcze, państwo opiekuńcze
- państwo opiekuńczenational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- państwo opiekuńczecountry in which such a system operates
Portuguese estado de bem-estar, estado de bem-estar social
- estado de bem-estarnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- estado de bem-estar socialnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- estado assistencialnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- estado de bem-estarcountry in which such a system operates
- estado de bem-estar socialcountry in which such a system operates
- estado assistencialcountry in which such a system operates
Russian социа́льное госуда́рство, социа́льное госуда́рство
- социа́льное госуда́рство (sociálʹnoje gosudárstvo)national level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- социа́льное госуда́рство (sociálʹnoje gosudárstvo)country in which such a system operates
Spanish estado de bienestar, estado del bienestar
- estado de bienestarnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- estado del bienestarnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- estado benefactornational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- estado del bienestarcountry in which such a system operates
- estado benefactorcountry in which such a system operates
Swedish välfärdsstat, folkhem
- välfärdsstatnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- folkhemnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- välfärdsstatcountry in which such a system operates
Vietnamese nhà nước phúc lợi, nhà nước phúc lợi
- nhà nước phúc lợinational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- nhà nước phúc lợicountry in which such a system operates
Welsh gwladwriaeth les, gwladwriaeth les
- gwladwriaeth lesnational level social system of a country operated by its sovereign central government for the citizens' welfare overall responsibility
- gwladwriaeth lescountry in which such a system operates
Cite this entry
APA
welfare state. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20state
MLA
“welfare state.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20state. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “welfare state,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/welfare%20state.
Source: welfare state on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.