RETIREMENT INCOME EXPECTATIONS OF
 RURAL SOUTHERNERS

 A Survey in Florida and in the Rural South

 Daniel E. Alleger1

 INTRODUCTION
 The expectation of an eventual and relatively secure retire-
 ment is now recognized as a social right by nearly all segments
 of American society. In the "old days" providing for retire-
 ment was largely a personal matter, but today the economic
 activities of life are so strongly oriented toward a money
 economy that the income aspects of retirement assume a much
 greater significance than ever before.
 Today both lay populations and public officials are constantly
 involved with the many problems concerning the economic self-
 sufficiency of persons aged 65 and over. Some of the queries
 that these problems evoke are answered by a cooperative re-
 search study which was activated in 1963 by the Agricultural
 Experiment Stations of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee,
 and Texas. This study became known as the Southern Regional
 S-56 Project, the source of data for this report. The specific
 objectives of the study were:
 1. To ascertain the economic and social goals and the pro-
 visions made for older age by rural families, and
 2. To analyze the specific interrelationships of present eco-
 nomic and social conditions, goals and provisions for
 older age.

 Eligibility of Respondents
 The families included in this study were randomly drawn
from rural populations in 32 counties of the five cooperating
states. They lived in counties in which more than half the
population was rural and was not part of a standard metropol-
itan area, as defined by the 1960 U.S. Census. Family eligibility
for inclusion in the study required: any family had to be a
husband-wife unit which was in existence for at least one year
at the time of the interview; the husband and wife were to be
living together in the same household; and the age of the
husband must range from 45 to 64 years, inclusive.
 1Associate Agricultural Economist, Florida Agricultural Experiment
Station, University of Florida.