Never Beneficiaries, Aged 60 or Older, 2020

• About 3.5 percent of the total population aged 60 or older never receive Social Security benefits.
• Late-arriving immigrants and infrequent workers:
  • comprise 86 percent of never beneficiaries, and
  • have the highest poverty rates among never beneficiaries.

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Table equivalent for chart: Population Characteristics

Characteristic	Never beneficiaries	Current and future beneficiaries
Number of beneficiaries	2.4 million	69.9 million
Women	64%	53%
Race/ethnicity
White	40%	76%
Black	11%	10%
All other races	23%	5%
Hispanic origin	26%	9%
Never married	21%	6%
Widowed	21%	17%
Less than high school education	34%	9%
Poverty rate	54%	6%

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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.	45.8
Infrequent workers: Individuals who have insufficient earnings to qualify for Social Security, but are not late-arriving immigrants.	39.6
Non-covered workers: Individuals with sufficient earnings, but who work in non-covered employment (primarily state and local government employees).	13.4
Die before receiving benefits: Individuals who are projected to be eligible for Social Security benefits, but die before receiving them.	1.2

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Table equivalent for chart: Poverty Rates for Never Beneficiaries

Group	Percentage in poverty
Infrequent workers	67.2
Late-arriving immigrants	57.3
Non-covered workers	8.9
Die before receiving benefits	8.1