Declining US Birth Rates Will Put Social Security Even Deeper Under Water: Analyst

Lower fertility and longer lifespans have left too few workers to support America’s growing ranks of retirees, an economist and budget expert says.

A Social Security card surrounded by U.S. currency, in this file photo. Dreamstime/TCA

The fact that America’s trust fund for paying Social Security is running out of money is commonly known, but a new analysis concludes that a decline in birth rates may deplete funds even faster than projected.

In her study of Social Security’s ability to pay its obligations to American seniors, Romina Boccia, an economist and budget expert at the Cato Institute, stated that the Social Security Administration (SSA) has been overly optimistic about the number of babies expected to be born in the United States.