In the Nordic welfare states, recent reforms increasingly emphasize individual responsibility, self-care, and preventive health practices. Within this transformation, health literacy has emerged as a key concept linking individual agency to the structural conditions of welfare governance. Defined as the ability to access, understand, evaluate and apply health-related information in daily life, health literacy reflects not only individual competence but also the social organisation of how knowledge and responsibility for health are distributed in society. Despite the growing policy relevance, the sociological understanding of health literacy, and how it shapes inequalities, citizenship, and welfare governance, remain underexplored. This systematic review examines how health literacy has been conceptualized and analysed within sociological and social science research conducted in the Nordic context between 2015 and 2025. It explores how health literacy is connected to welfare governance, social inequality, and the moral framing of the “active” and “responsible” citizen. The review was conducted in the fall of 2025 following PRISMA guidelines. Comprehensive searches were carried out in Scopus, PubMed, Cinahal, with inclusion criteria requiring primary focus on health literacy situated within the Nordic context. Additional searches were conducted in Nordic databases and journals to ensure region-specific publications. The review contributes new knowledge by synthesising and critically analysing a rapidly expanding research field. It advances the sociological understanding of health literacy as both a resource and a governing mechanism, demonstrating how knowledge and responsibility are mobilised to shape citizens´ health-related practices and identities.