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Social Security Program Fact Sheet

Beneficiary data

Family benefit data

Trust fund data

Our semi-annual Fact Sheet on the Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI) Program provides recent information on the number of beneficiaries and their average benefit amount, measures of protection provided by Social Security, and trust fund financial data. The latest Fact Sheet is shown below.

To print the Fact Sheet, we recommend the PDF version (requires Adobe Acrobat Reader or similar reader).

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FACT SHEET ON THE OLD-AGE, SURVIVORS, AND DISABILITY INSURANCE PROGRAM

A. Beneficiaries in Current-Payment Status, June 30, 2011

Type of benefit Number of
beneficiaries
[In thousands]		 Monthly
rate
[In millions]		 Average
monthly
amount
Total 54,815 $59,146 a
 Retired workers and their family members, total 38,058 43,204 a
  Retired workers 35,158 41,517 $1,181
  Spouses 2,303 1,342 583
  Children 596 346 580
 Survivors of deceased workers, total 6,330 6,314 a
  Children 1,920 1,450 755
  Widowed mothers and fathers with child beneficiaries in their care 154 130 845
  Aged widow(er)s, and aged parents 4,007 4,565 1,139
  Disabled widow(er)s 248 169 680
 Disabled workers and their family members, total 10,428 9,628 a
  Disabled workers 8,403 8,988 1,070
  Spouses 162 47 288
  Children 1,862 594 319
a Since the benefit amounts for workers and for the various types of family members and survivors are based on different proportions of the worker's benefit, average monthly amounts for groups of these different kinds of beneficiaries are not meaningful.

 

B. Selected Categories of Beneficiaries (Included Above) in
Current-Payment Status, June 30, 2011

Type of benefit Number of
beneficiaries
[In thousands]		 Monthly
rate
[In millions]
Disabled beneficiaries (OASDI)—Workers, disabled children aged 18 and over, and disabled widow(er)s 9,615 $9,811
Children (OASDI) 4,378 2,389
 Student children 178 115
 Disabled children aged 18 and over 963 655
 Children under age 18 3,238 1,619
Survivor children and widowed mothers and fathers 2,074 1,580
Beneficiaries aged 62 and over (OASDI) 43,277 49,488
Beneficiaries aged 65 and over (OASDI) 37,648 43,554

 

C. Average Monthly Family Benefits in
Current-Payment Status, June 30, 2011

Selected family a group Number of
families
[In thousands]		 Average
family
benefit		 Average
number of
beneficiaries
per family
Retired worker alone 32,467 $1,170 1.000
Retired worker and spouse, aged 62 and over 2,185 1,916 2.000
Disabled worker, spouse under full retirement age, and 1 or more children 71 1,816 3.975
Widowed parent and 2 children 48 2,406 3.000
Children of deceased workerb 1,171 989 1.324
Aged widow(er) alone 3,825 1,138 1.000
a A family means beneficiaries entitled on one worker's account.
b In most cases, the family includes a widowed parent whose benefits are withheld due to earnings.

 

D. Measures of Protection

  1. Coverage
    About 158 million people will work in OASDI-covered employment in 2011.

    About 94 percent of workers in paid employment and self-employment are covered under the OASDI program.

  2. Benefit receipt among the elderly
    As of June 30, 2011, about 89 percent of the population aged 65 and over were receiving benefits.

  3. Protection for survivors of young workers
    About 97 percent of persons aged 20-49 who worked in covered employment in 2010 have acquired survivorship protection for their children under age 18 (and surviving spouses caring for children under age 16).

  4. Disability protection
    About 91 percent of persons aged 21-64 who worked in covered employment in 2010 can count on monthly cash benefits if they suffer a severe and prolonged disability.

 

E. Operations of OASI and DI Trust Funds, Combined
[In billions]

Calendar
year
2010		 Fiscal
year
2010		 Cumulative 1937 through end of —
Calendar year 2010 Fiscal year 2010
Income $781.1 $788.0 $14,647.3 $14,479.3
 Contributions 639.8 646.6 12,877.5 12,772.0
 Other 141.3 141.3 1,769.9 1,707.2
Expenditures 712.5 706.3 12,038.4 11,900.9
 Benefit payments 701.6 695.4 11,799.2 11,662.9
  OASI 577.4 572.5 10,175.9 10,066.6
  DI 124.2 122.9 1,623.3 1,596.3
 Other 10.9 10.8 239.2 238.0
Assets, end of period 2,609.0 2,585.3 2,609.0 2,585.3
Note: Totals may not equal the sums of rounded components.

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Last reviewed or modified June 28, 2011