Every year Social Security releases statistics about a previous year and Social Security recently released statistics in 2020. One of the most alarming statistic came from Social Security’s staffing numbers. It showed that Social Security staffing numbers were the lowest they have been in the last 25 years. Considering Americans are now limited in how they communicate with Social Security because of the COVID-19 pandemic it makes no sense that Social Security should have such low staffing numbers. For years Social Security has been understaffed and underfunded and that needs to change. Below are some other trends from Social Security of what occurred during 2020.
- About 64.1 million persons received Social Security benefits for December 2019, an increase of 1,158,274 (1.8 percent) since December 2018. Approximately 75 percent were retired workers and their spouses and children, 9 percent were survivors of deceased workers, and 16 percent were disabled workers and their spouses and children.
- Sixty-seven percent of the 45.1 million retired workers received reduced benefits because of entitlement prior to full retirement age. Relatively more women (70.3 percent) than men (64.3 percent) received reduced benefits.
- The number of beneficiaries aged 65 or older rose from about 42.0 million in 2014 to about 48.6 million in 2019 (15.6 percent). The number of beneficiaries aged 85 or older increased by about 4.0 percent during the 5-year period from about 5.6 million in 2014 to about 5.8 million in 2019. In 2019, about 70,000 centenarians were Social Security beneficiaries.
- About 26.8 million women aged 65 or older received benefits for December 2019. About 14.7 million (54.9 percent) were entitled solely to a retired-worker benefit. About 6.8 million (25.2 percent) were dually entitled to a retired-worker benefit and a wife’s or widow’s benefit, and about 5.3 million (19.6 percent) were receiving wife’s or widow’s benefits only.
- About 2.8 million children under age 18 received benefits, including 1,184,943 children of deceased workers, 1,269,566 children of disabled workers, and 343,125 children of retired workers.
- About 9.8 million persons received benefits based on disability—8,378,374 disabled workers, 1,140,580 disabled adult children, and 246,142 disabled widows and widowers. In addition, 113,435 spouses and 1,311,187 minor and student children of disabled workers received benefits.
- Average monthly benefits for December 2019, including the 1.6 percent cost-of-living adjustment, were $1,503 for retired workers, $1,258 for disabled workers, and $1,423 for nondisabled widows and widowers. Among retired workers, monthly benefits averaged $1,671 for men and $1,337 for women. For disabled workers, average monthly benefits were $1,384 for men and $1,128 for women.
- Average monthly family benefits for December 2019 were $2,566 for a widowed mother or father and children; $2,221 for a disabled worker, wife, and children; and $3,117 for a retired worker, wife, and children.
- Total OASDI benefit payments for calendar year 2019 were $1,047.9 billion. Payments from the OASI trust fund were $902.8 billion—an increase of 6.9 percent from the $844.9 billion paid in 2018.
