More than Half US Citizens Availed Government Aid

By Rapti Gupta | Dec 19, 2012 06:27 AM EST

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A recent report conducted by Pew Research Center revealed that more than half of the citizens of U.S.  availed of unemployment and other benefits from the government.

 Nearly 55 percent of the citizens have drawn benefits from one of the six largest insurance programs, namely - Unemployment benefits, Social security, Medicare, Food stamps,Medicaid and welfare, reported CNN Money.

Considering federal college loans and grants and veterans' benefits, it was observed that almost 70 percent of the Americans seem to have availed government aids.

The research was done through a telephonic survey of around 2500 adults in the country, reported CNN money.

Among the six benefit programs, unemployment benefit program was the most popular  with around 27% of the citizens availing it at some point in their lives, reported Yahoo Finance.

Social security benefits came in second with 26 percent.

The research also studied the people who received these benefits. Around 60 percent of the Democrats had availed benefits from a safety program while only 52 percent of the Republicans accounted for the same, reported Yahoo Finance.

Democrats were more inclined towards availing unemployment benefit and poverty programs. However, the social security, welfare and programs for the elderly were equally availed by both the parties, reported CNN Money.

It was also observed that government entitlement program benefits were availed by 70 percent of the people who earned approximately $30,000 per annum. Also, 39 percent of the people earning $100,000 per year availed some benefit from the government, reported CNN Money.

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