什麼是福利

政府提供的各種協助需要幫助者的方案。包括退休金、殘障及失業保險、家庭補助、遺屬津貼以及國民健康保險。現代最早的社會福利法頒行於1880年代的德國（參閱social insurance），至1920年代和1930年代時，大部分的西方國家都已採行相似的方案。大部分的工業化國家都要求公司為員工保殘障險（參閱worker's compensation），以確保不論是暫時的或永久的傷害發生時員工仍有收入。對那些由疾病引起而非工作導致的殘障，大部分的國家會給予短期補貼以及長期的養老津貼。許多國家都提供家庭補助，以避免大家庭所導致的貧窮，或是用以提高出生率。遺屬津貼提供給未達老人津貼補助年齡且有未成年子女的遺孀，各國規定有所不同，且一般於該婦女再婚後即停止補貼。在比較富裕的國家之中，只有美國未能施行全面性的國民健康保險，目前保險物件僅及於老人與貧窮者（參閱Medicare and Medicaid）。

welfare

Any of a variety of governmental programs that provide assistance to those in need. Programs include pensions, disability and unemployment insurance, family allowances, survivor benefits, and national health insurance. The earliest modern welfare laws were enacted in Germany in the 1880s (see social insurance), and by the 1920s and '30s most Western nations had adopted similar programs. Most industrialized countries require firms to insure workers for disability (see workers' compensation), so that they have income if they are injured, whether temporarily or permanently. For disability from illness unrelated to occupational injury, most industrial nations pay a short-term benefit followed by a long-term pension. Many countries pay a family allowance to reduce the poverty of large families or to increase the birthrate. Survivor benefits, provided for widows below pension age left with a dependent child, vary considerably among nations and generally cease if the woman remarries. Of the wealthier nations, only the U.S. fails to provide national health insurance other than for the aged and the poor (see Medicare and Medicaid).