Social Security is not just a retirement plan. It is an important safety net that keeps retirees, survivors of workers who die young and people with disabilities from falling into poverty.

Nationwide, over 47 million people currently receive some kind of Social Security benefit — whether because of retirement, disability, or other qualifying circumstance, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a research and policy group.

In fact, only about half of current recipients are getting retirement benefits based on their own earnings history, EPI analyst Bill Spriggs states in his Feb. 28 report “Walkman to iPods: Social Security is Better Equipped to Provide for Income Protection.”

“While Social Security provides benefits that allow workers to have some independence in their old age and not outlive their savings,” Spriggs reports, “an equally significant piece of the Social Security pie goes to the families of American workers in the event of the worker’s disability or death.

“This coverage is important, since the average 20-year-old has a three-in-10 chance of becoming disabled before retirement, and a one-in-six chance of dying with young children before reaching retirement.” Currently, almost half of the people benefiting from Social Security are children who are part of the 7.5 million survivors, including spouses and widows of workers who have died. “For the worker who dies young, the survivor’s benefits are equivalent to a $403,000 life insurance policy,” Spriggs wrote in an article “Children Get Social Security, Too.”

Another 30 percent (7.8 million) of Social Security recipients are people with disabilities. Spriggs adds: “The Social Security system is better equipped and more comprehensive than any private retirement savings plan — like a well-appointed iPod, compared to a stripped-down Walkman of a 401(k) account.”