T HE year 1951 was a very important milestone so far as income for the aged was concerned. For the first time in our nation's history the number of persons receiving old-age insurance exceeded the number receiving old-age assistance (February). Likewise, for the first time, the total amount of insurance payments to aged persons exceeded the amount of old-age assistance payments (August). The number of aged persons on the assistance rolls declined slowly and steadily in 1951 from the high of September 1950, while the number receiving insurance steadily increased (see chart). At the end of 1951, over 4 million persons, representing nearly one-third of the population aged 65 and over,1 were receiving some form of public insurance benefit or pension or were the wives of such recipients. About 85 to 90 per cent of all persons working for a living were earning credits under some public retirement or pension program. Despite these noteworthy developments, there are still many aged persons with inadequate incomes, many pressing problems with respect to income for the aged still unsolved or awaiting consideration, and a need for much more information on the economic status of the aged.2 Some. of the most important of these pressing problems