Welfare geographies

Most developed western countries have got some form of welfare state or welfare support for their population. These started in some countries in a rudimentary way in the late 19th century or the interwar years, but most countries saw rapid development in the years after WWII. This was when Britain saw the start of National Insurance, the NHS, free secondary school and university education etc. But all this costs a lot of money and western countries tend to spend a lot of money on welfare provision. In Britain its about 10% of GDP and 24% of government spending. State pensions alone cost about £155 bn a year. What is interesting for us is that welfare needs and expenditure tend of have distinct geographies, both internationally and regionally. Internationally there are big variations between the social democratic, Nordic countries which tend to have generous and expensive welfare states which also require high levels of taxation, and 'liberal' countries like the USA which have more rudimentary forms of support, with correspondingly lower taxes. In the middle are France, Germany and the Netherlands which have extensive welfare states. Many of the less developed countries have minimal or non existent welfare programmes. Within countries, there is often considerable variation in both need and expenditure. In Britain, there are distinct regional variations between the more affluent south east and the less prosperous regions of South Wales, the North, North East which all saw large scale de-industrialisation and collapse of employment in coal mining, ship building, textiles, etc. As a result these areas have higher levels of unemployment, sickness and disability with higher levels of benefit expenditure. These patterns are repeated in other western countries which have seen de-industrialisation and in these areas welfare benefits are an important form of income support.