Aged Beneficiaries, Assistance Recipients, and the Aged in the General Population

*Bureau of Research and Statistics, Division of Coordination Studies. OVER T H E H I L L to the poorhouse is not and never was the p a t h t r o d by any appreciable number of the aged i n th i s country . Most elderly people l ive i n t h e i r o w n household; only one i n five lives w i t h son or daughter or other re lat ive ; only one i n fifty is to be f o u n d i n a n i n s t i t u t i o n . T h e dimensions of these and r e lated measures of t h e wel l -be ing of our older citizens, a n d the extent t o w h i c h they reflect t h e characteristics of aged beneficiaries and assistance recipients under t h e social security program, have a n i m p o r t a n t bearing o n p l a n n i n g for t h e security of t h e aged. Recognizing t h a t security p r o grams should have a basis i n careful observation, Congress i n 1935 gave the Social Security Board a cont inu ing obl i g a t i o n to study the economic status of the aged and the extent t o w h i c h existing and proposed legislation contr ibutes to i t s improvement .