Understanding all those 100-plus-year-olds on the Social Security rolls

In detailing the waste and fraud his administration has discovered, Trump used the example of the country's Social Security rolls, saying millions of people listed at ages 100 and older are still on active Social Security lists. Why?

Social media commenters came up with one possible explanation for the 150-year age, and experts who have worked closely with the Social Security Administration told PolitiFact it was plausible.

Under an international standard called ISO 8601, a missing value for a date is coded as May 20, 1875, because that was the date of an international standards-setting conference held in Paris, known as the "Convention du Mètre."

For that reason, under some coding systems, a missing value for a date will default to 1875 -- which in the year 2025 produces a round figure of 150.

Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner Lee Dudek said in a Feb. 19 statement that people older than 100 in the Social Security database "are not necessarily receiving benefits."

That doesn't mean payments aren't sent out improperly, however.

Between fiscal years 2015 and 2022, which includes Trump's first presidency, the Social Security Administration sent almost $71.8 billion in improper payments, according to a July 2024 agency inspector general report. The inspector general's office called improper payments "a longstanding challenge."

A November 2021 inspector general's report found $298 million in payments after death to some 24,000 beneficiaries. (About $84 million was returned, the report said.)