Divorce: Economic Issues

Social Security benefits are a basic source of income at later ages for most Americans. The federal government's Social Security Administration, in conjunction with several nonprofit research institutions (the Brookings Institution, the Urban Institute, and the RAND Corporation), has developed a projection model to estimate future differences in Social Security benefits by marital status. The model focuses on men and women born between 1931 and 1960.

Not surprisingly, the Social Security model projects that total income at retirement will be larger for men that for women, regardless of when they were born. However, Social Security benefits are projected to differ greatly for men and women of different races, marital statuses, and educational attainments. Women are projected to receive the largest share of their total income from Social Security benefits. And looking only at older divorced persons, the model estimates that divorced men will receive 12 to 17 percent higher monthly Social Security benefits than divorced women.