Social Security Statistical Snapshot

Chris Stein, CFP®
Apr 18, 2017
1 min read

The Social Security Administration releases periodic updates about the benefits paid to beneficiaries. The following is a statistical snapshot of some of the more significant numbers from the February 2017 report:

Total Beneficiaries

There are currently 61 million individuals receiving Social Security benefits.

Retirement Benefits

Of those 61 million individuals, 44.5 million are beneficiaries receiving Retirement Benefits. 41.5 million are retired workers. 2.4 million are spouses of retired workers. 0.6 million are children of retired workers.

Survivor Benefits

There are 6 million beneficiaries receiving Survivor Benefits. 1.9 million are children of deceased workers. 3.7 million are non-disabled widow(er)s. 0.4 million fall into the Other category.

Disability Benefits

There are 10.6 million beneficiaries receiving Disability Benefits. 8.8 million anr disabled workers. 1.7 million are spouses and children of disabled workers.