Benefit (social welfare)

Welfare is the provision of a minimal level of well-being and social support for citizens without current means to support basic needs. In most developed countries, welfare is largely provided by the government from tax income, and to a lesser extent by NGOs, charities, informal social groups, religious groups, and inter-governmental organizations.

Social security expands on this concept, especially in welfare states, by providing all inhabitants with various social services such as universal healthcare, unemployment insurance, (in addition to free post-secondary education), and others. In its 1952 Social Security (Minimum Standards) Convention (nr. 102), the International Labour Organization (ILO) defined the traditional contingencies covered by social security.

Terminology in this area is somewhat different in the United States than in the rest of the English-speaking world. The general term for an action program in support of the well being of poor people in the United States is welfare program, and the general term for all such programs is simply welfare. In American society, the term welfare arguably has negative connotations. In the United States, the term Social Security refers to the US social insurance program for all retired and disabled people. Elsewhere the term social security is used in a much broader sense, referring to the economic security that society offers when people are faced with certain risks.

Recent UK official use of the term welfare includes not only minimal help for people in need but also some services traditionally called benefits and social security in most English-speaking countries except the United States. The term is even used to include government help in finding employment.

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