- The agency added 17 million missing dates of death and updated citizenship information for about 25 million records.
- It is working to correct another 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship information.
- The SSA has not said the cleanup changed benefit payments or eligibility, or that beneficiaries need to take action.
The US Social Security Administration (SSA) says it has corrected millions of identity records in what it calls the most comprehensive cleanup in its 91-year history, as the Trump administration seeks to strengthen fraud prevention and improve government data.
The agency said Tuesday that it had added 17 million missing dates of death to its records and updated citizenship information for about 25 million records. It is also working to correct another 8.5 million records with inaccurate citizenship status.
The changes affect records associated with nearly 15 percent of active Social Security numbers, according to the agency.
SSA Commissioner Frank J. Bisignano said the effort was the first of its scale and was intended to strengthen the identity data used by government agencies and the broader economy.
The agency said it used information from its own systems and the State Department to add missing dates of death, while data from the Department of Homeland Security helped update citizenship records. It has also introduced stronger internal controls to reduce future data-entry errors.
Why does the cleanup matter?
Social Security records are used by federal and state agencies to verify identities, administer benefits and help prevent improper payments.
Accurate death records are particularly important when determining whether payments should stop after a beneficiary dies and whether eligible family members can receive survivor benefits.
Citizenship information can also be used in determining eligibility for certain government programs. Correcting inaccurate records could help prevent mistakes in identity verification and benefit administration.
However, the SSA has not said whether the latest corrections have changed anyone's benefit payments or eligibility. It has also not announced a new requirement for beneficiaries to review their records or provide additional documents.
The cleanup comes amid wider scrutiny of the agency's handling of death records. Earlier this year, a former senior SSA official alleged in a whistleblower disclosure that Department of Government Efficiency staff had pushed the agency to mark as many as 2.7 million people as dead without sufficient evidence.
The former official also alleged that more than 6,000 people were incorrectly recorded as dead in a separate update in April 2025. The SSA has denied adding the proposed 2.7 million names to its Death Master File.
The latest cleanup announcement does not establish that the new corrections involved those earlier cases.
Do Social Security beneficiaries need to check their records?
The SSA has not said that beneficiaries must take any action following the cleanup.
People can review some of their information through their online my Social Security account, including their earnings history and, for those receiving benefits, payment details.
Anyone who notices an error or experiences an unexpected interruption in benefits can contact the agency to ask about the issue and how to resolve it.
For now, the SSA has not announced any new documentation requirements or instructions for beneficiaries to update their information because of the records cleanup.
