Congressional Statistics, December 2003

Puerto Rico

Social Security

Old-Age (retirement), Survivors, and Disability Insurance (OASDI)—popularly referred to as Social Security—provides monthly benefits to workers and their families when earnings stop or are reduced because the worker retires, dies, or becomes disabled. The amount of benefits received is based on the worker's level of earnings in employment or self-employment covered by the Social Security program.

Table 1. Number of OASDI beneficiaries in Puerto Rico with benefits in current-payment status and monthly benefit amount, December 2003
Congressional district Number of beneficiaries Monthly benefit amount
(thousands of dollars)		 Number of
OASDI
beneficiaries
aged 65 or older
Total Retired workers a Disabled workers Widow(er)s b Wives and
husbands		 Children All beneficiaries Retired workers Widow(er)s b
Puerto Rico 702,798 320,517 134,997 81,126 64,956 101,202 384,860 196,213 43,127 396,597
All areas c 47,038,391 29,531,615 5,873,673 4,899,704 2,772,576 3,960,823 39,541,474 27,230,628 4,238,982 33,433,599
SOURCE: Social Security Administration, Master Beneficiary Record, 100 percent data.
a. Includes special age-72 beneficiaries.
b. Includes nondisabled widow(er)s, disabled widow(er)s, widowed mothers and fathers, and parents.
c. Includes beneficiaries in the 50 states, District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands.

Supplemental Security Income

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a federal cash assistance program that provides monthly payments to low-income aged, blind, or disabled persons in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

The former federal-state programs of Old-Age Assistance, Aid to the Blind, and Aid to the Permanently and Totally Disabled still operate in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. These programs are administered at the federal level by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.