Each year Social Security issues its annual SSI report about the health of the Supplemental Security Income program. The SSI program provides monthly benefits to the elderly and disabled if a financial need is present and it is one of the most important safety net programs available. Below are some of the major findings of the 2019 SSI report.
- By 2043, the end of the 25-year projection period, we estimate that the Federal SSI recipient population will reach 8.7 million. The projected growth in the SSI program over the 25-year period is largely due to the overall growth in the U.S. population, though the growth in the SSI recipient population is projected to be somewhat slower than the growth in the U.S. population.
- As a percentage of the total U.S. population, the number of Federal SSI recipients decreased slightly from 2.43 percent in 2017 to 2.39 percent in 2018. We project this percentage to gradually decline throughout the 25-year projection period, reaching 2.22 percent of the population in 2043.
- We estimate that Federal expenditures for SSI payments in calendar year 2019 will increase by $0.9 billion to $56.1 billion, an increase of 1.7 percent from 2018 levels.
- In dollars adjusted by the Consumer Price Index to 2019 levels, we project that federal expenditures for SSI payments will increase to $61.9 billion in 2043, a real increase of 0.4 percent per year.
- Federal SSI expenditures expressed as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) were 0.27 percent in 2018. We project that expenditures as a percentage of GDP will decrease to 0.26 percent of GDP in 2019, and continue to decline thereafter to 0.19 percent of GDP by 2043.
