The mortality effects of retirement : evidence from Social Security eligibility at age 62 Center for Retirement Research working paper Fitzpatrick, Maria D. author. Moore, Timothy J., author. Mortality Retirement Social Security Social Security eligibility begins at age 62, and approximately one third of Americans immediately claim benefits upon reaching that age. We study the link between retirement and health by examining whether mortality changes discontinuously at this threshold. Using mortality data that covers the entire U.S. population and includes exact dates of birth and death, we document a robust two percent increase in overall male mortality immediately after age 62. The rise in mortality is closely connected to changes in labor force participation, implying that mortality increases by approximately 20 percent among those who stop working because Social Security is available. Chestnut Hill, MA : Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, August 2016 Boston College. Center for Retirement Research, issuing body. Technical Report Text Illustrations 1 online resource (1 PDF file (53 pages)) nlm:nlmuid-101705957-pdf 101705957 http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/101705957 English United States Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY license. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0