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Numident

Database of the US Social Security Administration

Wikipedia contributorsAdapted for Fathomly · View authors
1 min read
Source updated August 26, 2025

Numident, or "Numerical Identification System," is the Social Security Administration's computer database file of an abstract of the information contained in an application for a United States Social Security number (Form SS-5). It contains the name of the applicant, place and date of birth, and other information. The Numident file contains all Social Security numbers since they first were issued in 1936.

01DOGE Social Security Records cleanup

In 2025, the Department of Government Efficiency participated in an effort to clean up Numident records that did not include a date of death. Initially, their announcements claimed that millions of people older than 110 years were fraudulently collecting Social Security benefits. However, it was later clarified by SSA that these are merely records of Social Security numbers issued to people whose death dates are not known, and who are not collecting any benefits.

On August 26, 2025, a whistleblower filed a complaint that DOGE had uploaded a live copy of Numident to an insecure cloud server.

Watch videos about NumidentExplainers and documentaries on YouTube (opens in a new tab)

Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Numident”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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