The line chart shows the ratio of covered workers to beneficiaries from 1955 to 2080. In 1955, there were 8.6 workers supporting each retiree. By 1975, that ratio had declined to 3.2 workers per beneficiary and remains between 3.2 and 3.4 over the next 30 years. Current projections have the ratio starting to decline again in 2008, decreasing at an increasing rate until it reaches 2.1 workers per beneficiary in 2031. Thereafter, it continues to decline by one-tenth of a percentage point approximately every fifteen years, so that by 2080 there are only 1.8 workers per beneficiary.
