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Population Projections
- American
Indians and
Alaska Natives - Divorced
Spousal
Beneficiaries - Early
Eligibility Age
Beneficiaries - Lifetime
Low
Earners
Oldest
Old- Sporadic
Low
Earners - Spousal-
Only
Beneficiaries - Survivor-
Only
Beneficiaries - Women
& Dual
Entitlement
Survivor-Only Beneficiaries in 2050
Methodology »Released: March 2015
Next expected update: 2020
DEFINITION: Survivor-only beneficiaries are individuals aged 60 or older who have not worked enough to qualify for Social Security retirement benefits on their own earnings records, but receive full or reduced survivor benefits solely based on the deceased spouse's earnings record. a
In 2050, we project that:
- 86 percent of survivor-only beneficiaries aged 60 or older will be women.
- The poverty rate will be higher for survivor-only beneficiaries compared with all beneficiaries aged 60 or older.
- More than half of survivor-only beneficiaries will be aged 80 or older, making them among the oldest old of all beneficiaries.
- Survivor-only beneficiaries will be disproportionately in low-earning households.
Lifetime Shared Earnings
Percentage of survivor-only beneficiaries aged 60 or older in quintile

a. To be fully insured for Social Security retirement benefits on their own earnings record, a worker must have 10 years (or 40 credits) of earnings. While reduced survivor benefits can be claimed starting at age 60, the earliest workers can claim a retired worker benefit is age 62.
SOURCE: Modeling Income in the Near Term, Version 7 (MINT7) microsimulation model using 2012 Trustees Report intermediate assumptions.