Never Beneficiaries, Aged 60 or Older, 2024

• About 3.3 percent of the total population aged 60 or older never receive Social Security benefits.
• Late-arriving immigrants and infrequent workers comprise 88 percent of never beneficiaries.
• Never beneficiaries have a higher poverty rate than current and future beneficiaries.

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Table equivalent for chart: Population Characteristics

Characteristic	Never beneficiaries	Current and future beneficiaries
Number of beneficiaries	2.6 million	77.2 million
Women	63%	53%
Race or ethnicity
White	35%	75%
Black	13%	10%
All other races	24%	6%
Hispanic origin	28%	10%
Never married	21%	7%
Widowed	20%	16%
Less than high school education	36%	9%

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Table equivalent for chart: Breakdown of Never Beneficiaries

Group	Percentage of never beneficiaries in group
Late-arriving immigrants: Immigrants who arrive at age 50 or later and have insufficient earnings to qualify for Social Security.	49.0
Infrequent workers: Individuals who have insufficient earnings to qualify for Social Security, but are not late-arriving immigrants.	38.9
Non-covered workers: Individuals with sufficient earnings, but who work in non-covered employment (primarily state and local government employees).	10.8
Die before receiving benefits: Individuals who are projected to be eligible for Social Security benefits, but die before receiving them.	1.3

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Table equivalent for chart: Poverty Rates

Group	Percentage below 100% of poverty
Never beneficiaries	54.3
Current and future beneficiaries	5.8