<P> Social Security numbers were first issued by the Social Security Administration in November 1935 as part of the New Deal Social Security program . Within three months, 25 million numbers were issued . </P> <P> On November 24, 1936, 1,074 of the nation's 45,000 post offices were designated "typing centers" to type up Social Security cards that were then sent to Washington, D.C. On December 1, 1936, as part of the publicity campaign for the new program, Joseph L. Fay of the Social Security Administration selected a record from the top of the first stack of 1,000 records and announced that the first Social Security number in history was assigned to John David Sweeney, Jr., of New Rochelle, New York . </P> <P> Before 1986, people often did not obtain a Social Security number until the age of about 14, since the numbers were used for income tracking purposes, and those under that age seldom had substantial income . The Tax Reform Act of 1986 required parents to list Social Security numbers for each dependent over the age of 5 for whom the parent wanted to claim a tax deduction . Before this act, parents claiming tax deductions were simply trusted not to lie about the number of children they supported . During the first year of the Tax Reform Act, this anti-fraud change resulted in seven million fewer minor dependents being claimed . The disappearance of these dependents is believed to have involved either children who never existed or tax deductions improperly claimed by non-custodial parents . In 1988, the threshold was lowered to 2 years old, and in 1990, the threshold was lowered yet again to 1 year old . Today, an SSN is required regardless of the child's age to receive an exemption . Since then, parents have often applied for Social Security numbers for their children soon after birth; today, it can be done on the application for a birth certificate . </P> <P> The original purpose of this number was to track individuals' accounts within the Social Security program . It has since come to be used as an identifier for individuals within the United States, although rare errors occur where duplicates do exist . As numbers are now assigned by the central issuing office of the SSA, it is unlikely that duplication will ever occur again . A few duplications did occur when prenumbered cards were sent out to regional SSA offices and (originally) Post Offices . </P>

When is a social security number issued at birth