Social Security says it’s ‘corrected’ tens of millions of records. Here’s why

( NewsNation ) — The Social Security Administration says it has “corrected” nearly 15% of active Social Security numbers since the start of the Trump administration as part of an ongoing effort to improve the accuracy and integrity of its database.

The agency said Tuesday it has added 17 million death dates to records that previously had none and updated citizenship information in roughly 25 million records where it was missing.

“This is the first time SSA has undertaken an effort of this scale, and I am proud of the work we have done to strengthen the foundation of identity data relied upon throughout government and the economy,” SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano said in a release.

SSA said it is still correcting an additional 8 1/2 million records with “inaccurate citizenship status.” The agency said it has also implemented “stronger internal controls” to prevent future data entry errors.

The database cleanup is the most comprehensive in the agency’s 91-year history, SSA said, and underscores a government-wide commitment to “safeguarding identity data” and “preventing fraud.”

Tuesday’s announcement did not say how many, if any, of the corrected records were tied to improper payments or suspected fraud. NewsNation asked SSA for that number by email, but the agency did not respond.

SSA did not provide an estimate of how much the database cleanup could save taxpayers.

Were millions of dead people getting Social Security checks?

Social Security’s database drew headlines last year after President Trump and Elon Musk erroneously implied that millions of dead people were receiving benefits, vastly overstating the scale of the problem.

The claims were based on SSA records for millions of people born more than a century ago who had no death date on file.

Then-acting Social Security Commissioner Lee Dudek later clarified that a missing death date didn’t mean that benefits were still being paid.

A 2023 inspector general report found that Social Security had no death information on file for about 18.9 million people born in 1920 or earlier but noted that “almost none” were receiving payments.

At the time, SSA officials said updating the death information would have “limited or no benefit” to its programs and estimated the effort would cost $5.5 million to $9.7 million.

Still, the inspector general recommended that SSA add death information to the records, cautioning that those Social Security numbers could allow for a “wide range of potential abuse.”

Federal data show about 92,000 retired workers aged 99 or older received Social Security benefits in June 2026, a number that has hardly changed in recent years and is comparable to the size of the U.S. centenarian population .

Noncitizens who are in the U.S. legally can receive Social Security retirement benefits if they meet the program’s eligibility requirements, but those in the country illegally don’t qualify.

Improper retirement payments do happen, but they’re relatively rare.

SSA’s 2025 report found that 99.91% of Old-Age and Survivors Insurance payments were free of overpayments and 99.96% were free of underpayments. It estimated $1.62 billion in improper payments out of roughly $1.29 trillion in OASI benefit payments.