U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of Policy

Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program, 2007

(released September 2008)
 

On this page:

Printed copies of this document are scheduled for release in early September 2008.

Contact Information

Your suggestions and comments on this report are welcome and should be directed to Kevin Kulzer at 410-965-5366 or di.asr@ssa.gov. For specific questions about the data, please call or e-mail the contact listed on each table. For additional copies of the report, please e-mail op.publications@ssa.gov or call 202-358-6274.

Highlights 2007

Size and Scope of the Social Security Disability Program

  • Disability benefits were paid to more than 8.1 million people.
  • Awards to disabled workers (804,787) accounted for about 90 percent of awards to all disabled beneficiaries (901,114).
  • In December, payments to disabled beneficiaries totaled almost $7.8 billion.
  • Benefits were terminated for 522,349 disabled workers.
  • Supplemental Security Income payments were another source of income for about 1 out of 6 disabled beneficiaries.

Profile of Disabled-Worker Beneficiaries

  • Workers accounted for the largest share of disabled beneficiaries (87 percent).
  • Average age was slightly over 52.
  • Men represented about 53 percent.
  • Mental disorders was the diagnosis for about a third.
  • Average monthly benefit received was $1,004.00.
  • Supplemental Security Income payments were another source of income for about 1 out of 7.

Preface

Since 1956, the Social Security program has provided cash benefits to people with disabilities. This annual report provides program and demographic information about the people who receive those benefits. The basic topics covered are

  • beneficiaries in current-payment status;
  • workers’ compensation and public disability benefits;
  • benefits awarded, withheld, and terminated;
  • disabled workers who have returned to work;
  • outcomes of applications for disability benefits; and
  • disabled beneficiaries receiving Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, or both.

Kevin Kulzer managed the preparation of the data in this report. Hazel Jenkins, Art Kahn, Kia Masseaux, and Clark Pickett wrote the programs to process the data and produce the statistical tables. Glenda Carter and Linda Martin wrote data specifications. Glenda Carter, Hazel Jenkins, and Kia Masseaux validated the data. Staff of the Division of Information Resources edited the report and prepared the print and electronic versions for publication.

Your suggestions and comments on this report are welcome and should be directed to Kevin Kulzer at 410-965-5366 or di.asr@ssa.gov. For specific questions about the data, please call or e-mail the contact listed on each table. For additional copies of the report, please e-mail op.publications@ssa.gov. This and other publications on the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income programs are available on our Web site at http://www.socialsecurity.gov/policy.

Manuel de la Puente
Associate Commissioner for Research, Evaluation, and Statistics
September 2008

Notes

The Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) program provides benefits to retired workers and their dependent family members and to survivors of deceased workers. The Disability Insurance (DI) program provides benefits to disabled workers, their spouses, and children (whether or not disabled).

Benefits are paid from the OASI and DI trust funds. However, not all disabled beneficiaries are paid from the DI trust fund. All disabled widow(er)s' and most disabled adult children's benefits are paid from the OASI trust fund. Persons receiving disability benefits from either trust fund are referred to in this report as Social Security beneficiaries.

Data for 2001 and subsequent years presented in these tables may differ slightly from other published statistics for two reasons. First, all data for those years are based on 100 percent data files. Second, beginning in 2001, the definition of an award was changed to include secondary benefit awards, subsequent periods of disability, and conversions from one class of child's benefit to another and to exclude reinstated benefits. Those changes resulted in a slight increase in the award counts.

The tables on noninstitutionalized beneficiaries based on the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) have been removed from the Annual Statistical Report on the Social Security Disability Insurance Program. Because of increased attrition of survey participants over time and increasingly low match rates to administrative data, attempts were made to improve the reliability of estimates based on the SIPP. The Office of Research, Evaluation, and Statistics (ORES) contracted with the Census Bureau to conduct a special SIPP-based interview of Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries. Estimates based on the additional data were not available when this report was published. However, ORES anticipates publishing these estimates in another publication as well as highlighting the changes in the data and the reliability of the estimates. This decision reinforces the inherent differences between the survey data used to produce the estimates of noninstitutionalized beneficiaries and the administrative data used in this publication.

All years are calendar years unless otherwise specified.

Table of Contents

The text, tables, and charts in this publication are available in both HTML and PDF. The tables are also available in Excel.

The following files are available for this document in the given formats:
Entire publication
PDF. XLS.
Background
  • History of the Social Security Disability Insurance Program
  • Definition of Disability
  • Types of Benefits Available
  • Initial Disability Decisionmaking Process
  • Appeals Process
  • Benefit Calculations
  • Benefits Offset and Withheld
  • Work Incentives
  • Benefit Termination
HTML. PDF.
Charts and Tables
Beneficiaries in Current-Payment Status
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Disabled Beneficiaries and Nondisabled Dependents
HTML. PDF. XLS.
All Disabled Beneficiaries
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Disabled Workers
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Disabled-Worker Families
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Beneficiaries Who Have Filed for Workers' Compensation or Public Disability Benefits
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Benefits Awarded, Withheld, and Terminated
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Awards to Disabled Beneficiaries and Nondisabled Dependents
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Awards to All Disabled Beneficiaries
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Awards to Disabled Workers
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Awards to Disabled-Worker Families
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Benefits Withheld from All Disabled Beneficiaries
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Benefits Terminated for All Disabled Beneficiaries
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Disabled Workers Who Work
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Reinstatement Status for Disabled Workers
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Outcomes of Applications for Disability Benefits
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Disabled Beneficiaries Receiving Social Security, SSI, or Both
HTML. PDF. XLS.
Appendix: Sampling Variability
HTML. PDF.
Glossary
HTML. PDF.

To access individual tables, please use the expanded table of contents.

Accessibility and Usability Information

The HTML files for this document are Section 508 compliant—accessible to persons with disabilities. If you have comments on how to improve the accessibility of this document, please e-mail op.webmaster@ssa.gov.

In order to view and print the PDF files for this document, you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you do not already have it, you may download the Acrobat Reader from Adobe's Web site at no charge.

Other Editions of this Publication

Next Expected Update

September 2009

To receive an e-mail notification when this and other Office of Policy documents are released on our Web site, please sign up for our e-mail notification service.

Other Editions