U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: Mother's Day: May 11, 2014

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- 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 succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

How Many Mothers

4.1 million
Number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 who gave birth in the past 12 months.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2012 American Community Survey, Table B13002  
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/B13002

35.7%
Percentage of births in 2011 that were to unmarried women age 15 to 50. The metro areas with birth rates to unmarried mothers that were among the highest in the country included Flagstaff, Ariz. (74.6 percent), Greenville, N.C. (69.4 percent), Lima, Ohio (67.5 percent), Myrtle Beach-North Myrtle Beach-Conway, S.C. (67.4 percent) and Danville, Va. (67.3 percent).
Source: Social and Economic Characteristics of Currently Unmarried Women With a Recent Birth: 2011, Table 1  http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/acs-21.pdf

How Many Children

2,373.5
Decline in total fertility rate or estimated number of total births per 1,000 women in Utah in 2012 (based on current birth rates by age), which led the nation. At the other end of the spectrum is Rhode Island, with a total fertility rate of 1,592.5 births per 1,000 women.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports,
Page 66, Table 12 http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf

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.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010, Detailed Tables, Table 1 http://www.census.gov/hhes/fertility/data/cps/2010.html

Recent Births

3.953 million
Decline in the number of births registered in the United States in 2012. Of this number, 305,388 were to teens 15 to 19 and 7,157 to women age 45 to 49.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf

25.8
Average age of women in 2012 when they gave birth for the first time, up from 25.6 years in 2011. The increase in the mean age in 2012 reflects, in part, the relatively large decline in births to women in their teen years and their 20s.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, Page 7 <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr62/nvsr62_09.pdf>    

62.1%
Percentage of women age 16 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months who were in the labor force.
Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

29.5%
The percentage of mothers who had given birth in the past 12 months who had a bachelor's degree or higher.
Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

84.6%
Percentage of women age 15 to 50 who gave birth in the past year and who have at least a high school diploma. 
Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

Jacob and Sophia
The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2012.
Source: Social Security Administration
http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

66
Number of births in the past year per 1,000 women age 15 to 50 with a graduate or professional degree. The number was 56 per 1,000 for women whose highest level of education was a bachelor's degree.
Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table S1301
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/S1301

Mothers Remembered

15,307
Number of florists nationwide in 2011. The 66,165 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother's Day.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 45311)
http://censtats.census.gov/cgi-bin/cbpnaic/cbpdetl.pl

12,403
Number of employees of greeting-card publishers in 2011.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 511191) http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

15,097
The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2011. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother's Day.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 44612) http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

23,394
Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2011 — the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 (NAICS 44831) http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/

Stay-at-Home Moms

5 million
Number of stay-at-home moms in married-couple family groups in 2013 — statistically unchanged from 2012 and 2011. In 2013, 24 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, not statistically different from the percentage in 2012.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements, Table SHP-1
http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p20-570.pdf

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).
• Without a high school diploma (19 percent versus 8 percent of mothers in the labor force).

Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2007 http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam/p20-561.pdf

Taking Care of the Kids

863,126
Number of child day care services employees across the country in 2011. They were employed by one of  the 75,059 child day care services. In addition, there were 747,436 child day care services without paid employees. Many mothers turn to these centers to help juggle motherhood and careers.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2011 NAICS 6244 http://www.census.gov/econ/cbp/ and
Nonemployer Statistics: 201l http://www.census.gov/econ/nonemployer/

94%
The 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 stepchildren, 2 percent with adopted children and 0.5 percent with foster children.
Source: Living Arrangements of Children: 2004
http://www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p70-114.pdf

Single Moms

10 million
The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2013, up from 3.4 million in 1970.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements http://www.census.gov/hhes/families/files/shp1.xls Table SHP-1

5.6 million
Number of custodial mothers who were due child support in 2011.
Source: Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011, Table 1
http://www.census.gov/prod/2013pubs/p60-246.pdf

415,475
Number of mothers who had a birth in the past 12 months and were living with a cohabiting partner.
Source: 2012 American Community Survey, American FactFinder, Table B13004
http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/12_1YR/B13004

Following is a list of observances typically covered by the Census Bureau's Facts for Features series:

Editor's note:
The preceding data were collected from a variety of sources and may be subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Facts for Features are customarily released about two months before an observance in order to accommodate magazine production timelines. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau's Public Information Office: telephone: 301-763-3030; or e-mail: [email protected]

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SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau