The U.S. Social Security Administration (SSA) announced on Tuesday that it has corrected nearly 15% of all valid Social Security Number (SSN) records to add missing death and citizenship data as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to curb welfare fraud.
The agency said it was the most comprehensive cleanup of its Social Security number database in its 91-year history. The correction involves approximately 330 million U.S. citizens and nearly 390 million total records. The SSA laid out the numbers in a statement released Tuesday.
Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano viewed the database as a foundation for the federal government.
“The Social Security number database is our nation’s books and records. The accuracy of this database is critical to maintaining the integrity of the government’s services to our citizens,” Bisignano said. “This is the first time SSA has undertaken an effort of this magnitude.”
The agency said it used internal SSA systems and State Department data to add 17 million death dates to records that were previously lacking. It used the Department of Homeland Security’s Systematic Alien Entitlement Verification (SAVE) service to update about 25 million records that were missing citizenship information.
The commissioner said another 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship status were still being corrected. The SSA added that it has put in place stricter internal controls to prevent future manual entry errors.
Reuters reported the figures on Tuesday, noting that the agency administers benefits for tens of millions of older and disabled Americans. President Donald Trump has vowed to crack down on fraud and waste in the system when he returns to office.
Bisignano, who also heads the IRS, described the effort as reconciling the agency’s Numident master file. He said in an interview that records had shown the number holder looked “150 or 160 years old” baltimore sunadding that such entries “create vulnerabilities.”
The cleanup comes after the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) took action in March 2025 to mark approximately 3.2 million number holders aged 120 and above as deceased.
Democrats have raised questions about the government’s handling of death records. A former SSA employee told Congress the agency is under pressure to determine the dates of death of living people, and Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) wrote to Bisignano demanding answers. The SSA denies adding 2.7 million names to its death master file.
Earlier this year, a federal judge alone blocked the government’s SAVE citizen database.