Mother's Day: Facts and Figures

Mother's Day: May 13, 2012

The driving force behind Mother's Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia on May 10, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis asked members of Congress to set aside a day to honor mothers. She finally succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

How Many Mothers

85.4 million: Estimated number of mothers in the United States in 2009.

4.0 million: Number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 who gave birth in the past 12 months.

53 percent: Percentage of 15- to 50-year-old women who were mothers in 2010.

81 percent: Percentage of women who had become mothers by age 40 to 44 as of 2010. In 1976, 90 percent of women in that age group had given birth.

How Many Children

2.5: The total fertility rate or number of births in 2009 per woman in Utah (based on current birth rates by age), which led the nation. At the other end of the spectrum is Vermont, with a total fertility rate of 1.6 births per woman.

94: Percentage of the 37.8 million mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2004, who lived with their biological children only. In addition, 3 percent lived with any stepchildren, 2 percent with any adopted children and less than 1 percent with any foster children.

20: Percentage of all women age 15 to 44 who have had two children. About 47 percent had no children, 17 percent had one, 10 percent had three and about 5 percent had four or more.

Recent Births

4.13 million: Number of births registered in the United States in 2009. Of this number, 409,840 were to teens 15 to 19 and 7,934 to women age 45 to 54.

25: Average age of women in 2008 when they gave birth for the first time, up from 25.0 years in 2006 and 2007. The mean age from 2007 to 2008 reflects, in part, the relatively large decline in births to women under age 25 compared with the small decline for women in the 25-39 age bracket.

55: Percentage of mothers with a birth in 2010 who were in the labor force. This decreased from from 57 percent in 2008.

27.3: The percentage of mothers who had given birth in the past 12 months who had a bachelor's degree or higher. Among states, New Hampshire had the highest percentage of recent mothers in this category with 48 percent. Mothers in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey and Maryland also had percentages higher than the national average.

83: Percentage of women age 15 to 44 with at least a high school diploma who gave birth in the last year. For women age 30 to 44, the figure was 90 percent.

Jacob and Isabella: The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2010.

73: Number of births in the past year per 1,000 women age 15 to 44 with a graduate or professional degree. The number per 1,000 for women whose highest level of education was a bachelor's degree was 59.7.

Mothers Remembered

17,124: number of florist establishments nationwide in 2009. The 75,855 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother's Day.

The flowers bought for mom have a good chance of having been grown in California. Among the 15 surveyed states, California was the leading provider of cut flowers in 2009, accounting for 75 percent of domestic flower production ($269 million out of $359 million at wholesale value) in those states. (The data pertain only to operations with sales greater than or equal to $100,000.)

11,044: Number of employees of the 99 greeting-card publishing establishments in 2009.

14,279: The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2009. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother's Day.

24,973: Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2009 — the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom.

Stay-at-Home Moms

5 million: Number of stay-at-home moms in 2011 — same as in 2010 and down from 5.1 million in 2009 and 5.3 million in 2008 (the estimates for 2010 and 2009 are not statistically different). In 2011, 23 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother, up from 21 percent in 2000. In 2007, before the recession, stay-at-home mothers were found in 24 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 15.

Compared with other moms, stay-at-home moms in 2007 were more likely:

• Younger (44 percent were under age 35 compared with 38 percent of mothers in the labor force).
• Hispanic (27 percent compared with 16 percent of mothers in the labor force).
• Foreign-born (34 percent compared with 19 percent of mothers in the labor force).
• Living with a child under age 5 (57 percent compared with 43 percent of mothers in the labor force).

Employed Moms (and Moms-to-Be)

55 percent: The proportion of mothers in 2010 with a recent birth who were in the labor force decreased slightly from 57 percent in 2008.

In 2008, among states with higher than average levels of new mothers who were unemployed, the highest proportions were in Alabama and Delaware (10 percent) followed by Michigan, Alaska, Arkansas, North Dakota, and South Carolina (9 percent), along with several other states in the southeast United States.

805,137: Number of child care centers across the country in 2009. These included 75,396 centers employing 869,468 workers and another 729,741 self-employed people or other businesses without paid employees. Many mothers turn to these centers to help juggle motherhood and careers.

Single Moms

10.0 million: The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2011, up from 3.4 million in 1970.

5.2 million: Number of custodial mothers who were due child support in 2009.

38 percent: In 2010, of the 3.7 million women 15 to 44 years old who had a birth in the last year, 1.4 million (39 percent) were to women who were not married, who were separated, or married but with an absent spouse.

In 2008, this number was 1.5 million. Of those mothers, 425,000 (28 percent) were living with a cohabiting partner.

Source: Census Bureau