( CNN ) -- Retiring baby boomers are cashing out on their decades of paying into Social Security . The problem ? Social Security is no longer running a surplus , worrying many that the entitlement program is in trouble . In 2036 , the Social Security Administration reports that it will no longer have enough money to fully pay out scheduled benefits . Solutions put forth by President Obama 's bipartisan fiscal commission , on which Republican vice presidential hopeful Paul Ryan served , include raising the retirement age and reducing benefits for wealthier Americans . As the debate over how to save Social Security continues , we look at the program by the numbers : . 7.8 million - Number of elderly people in the United States in 1934 . Approximately 50 % of them lacked enough income to support themselves . Only 5 % of retired people were receiving pensions . 1935 -- Social Security is signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt . The first payroll deductions begin in 1937 . Ryan 's controversial Social Security plan he does n't discuss . 222,488 -- Number of Americans receiving Social Security benefits in 1940 , less than 1 % of the total population . $ 22.71 -- The average monthly benefit for a retired worker in 1940 , the first year that benefits were paid monthly . 56 million -- Number of Americans receiving Social Security benefits in 2011 , approximately 18 % of the total population . 36 million -- Number of those receiving Social Security in 2012 who are retired workers . The other 20 million are surviving spouses , disabled people and dependents . Opinion : Social Security and Medicare reform ca n't wait . $ 1,234 -- The average monthly benefit for a retired worker in 2011 . $ 1,323 -- The average monthly retired worker benefit for a man in 2010 . $ 1,023 -- The average monthly retired worker benefit for a woman in 2010 . 12 % -- Percentage of retired worker Social Security beneficiaries who were women in 1940 . 49 % -- Percentage of retired worker Social Security beneficiaries who were women in 2010 . 86 % -- The percentage of single people over 65 who received Social Security benefits in 2009 . 43 % -- The percentage of single people over 65 who relied on Social Security for 90 % or more of their income in 2009 . Social Security , Medicare report card on tap . $ 778 billion -- Expected amount that Social Security will pay out in benefits in 2012 . $ 8.7 trillion+ -- Amount of money that has been paid into the Social Security Trust Fund since its inception . $ 7.4 trillion+ -- Amount of money that has been paid out in benefits since the 1930s . 2036 -- The year Social Security Trust Fund will no longer have enough money to fully pay out scheduled benefits . Just for fun . $ 22,888.92 -- Amount of Social Security benefits received by Ida Fuller of Vermont . She was the first person to receive monthly benefits , beginning in 1940 . She died in 1975 at the age of 100 . $ 24.75 -- The amount Ida Fuller paid into Social Security during three years of work in the late 1930s . $ 0.17 -- The amount of Social Security benefits paid to Ernest Ackerman , the first person to apply for benefits . He retired one day after the program began and paid a total of $ .05 cents into Social Security . 001-01-0001 -- The lowest Social Security number ever assigned , given to a New Hampshire woman in 1936 . 23 -- The age of John David Sweeney Jr. of New York when he received the nation 's first Social Security account in 1936 . Sweeney died at the age of 61 and never received any Social Security benefits . 40,000 -- Number of people who claimed the Social Security number 078-05-1120 , when they found it printed on a sample insert in wallets sold at Woolworths .
222,488 -- Number receiving Social Security benefits in 1940 , less than 1 % of the population . 56 million -- Number receiving Social Security benefits in 2011 , about 18 % of the population . $ 778 million -- The amount that Social Security will pay out in benefits in 2012 . 40,000 -- People who claimed SSN 1 - 05 - 1120 after finding it on a sample card insert .