U.S. Census Bureau Facts for Features: Mother's Day: May 14, 2017

WASHINGTON, May 1, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Anna Jarvis organized the first Mother's Day observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia, Pa., on May 10, 1908. As the annual celebration became popular around the country, Jarvis became the driving force behind Mother's Day and 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

43.5 million 
The number of mothers between the ages of 15 and 50 in 2014. These mothers gave birth to 95.8 million children.
Source: Current Population Survey, June 2014 Fertility of Women in the United States: 2014, Detailed Tables, Table 2
www.census.gov/hhes/fertility/data/cps/2014.html

3.9 million 
The number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 in 2015 who had given birth in the past 12 months. 
Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table B13002  
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/B13002

35.7% 
The percentage of unmarried women ages 15 to 50 in 2015 who had a birth in the past 12 months. About 64.3 percent of women ages 15 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months were married.
Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table S1301  
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/S1301

How Many Children 

62.5 
The number of births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 in 2015, down 1 percent from 2014.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, Page 4 www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_01_tables.pdf

22.3% 
The percentage of women ages 15 to 50 in 2014 who had given birth to two children. About 42.4 percent had no children, 17 percent had one, 11.7 percent had three, and about 6.8 percent had four or more.
Source: Current Population Survey, June 2014, Detailed Tables, Table 1
www.census.gov/hhes/fertility/data/cps/2014.html

Characteristics of Women With a Recent Birth

3.98 million
The number of registered births in 2015, down less than 1 percent from 2014. Of this number, 229,715 were to teens ages 15 to 19.
Sources: National Center for Health Statistics, National Vital Statistics Reports, Table 1 and Table 2
www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr66/nvsr66_01.pdf

62.4% 
The percentage of women ages 16 to 50 in the labor force in 2015 who had a birth in the past 12 months.
Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table S1301
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/S1301

31.8% 
The percentage of women with a bachelor's degree or higher who had given birth in the past 12 months. 
Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table S1301
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/S1301

86.8% 
The percentage of women ages 15 to 50 with at least a high school diploma or equivalent who gave birth in the past year.
Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table S1301
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/S1301

63 
The number of births in the past year per 1,000 women ages 15 to 50 with a graduate or professional degree. The number was 53 per 1,000 for women whose highest level of education was a bachelor's degree.
Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table S1301
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_1YR/S1301

Noah and Emma 
The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2015.
Source: Social Security Administration, Top 10 Baby Names of 2015 
www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/

Mothers Celebrated

13,419 
The number of florists nationwide in 2015. Since 2005, the number of florist establishments decreased from 21,135 to 13,419, a decline of 36.5 percent. The number of employees in floral shops also declined from 101,861 to 60,076 employees in 2015, a decline of 41.0 percent.  
Source: County Business Patterns: 2015 (NAICS 45311)
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//naics~45311

14,162
The number of employees of greeting-card publishers in 2015.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2015 (NAICS 511191) 
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//naics~511191

16,345
The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2015. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother's Day.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2015 (NAICS 44612) 
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//naics~44612   

22,160 
The number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2015—the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2015 (NAICS 44831) 
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//naics~44831   

Stay-at-Home Moms

5.0 million 
The number of stay-at-home moms in married-couple family groups in 2016. 
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2016, Table FG8
www.census.gov/data/tables/2016/demo/families/cps-2016.html

Taking Care of the Kids

888,357
The number of people employed at one of the 74,589, child day care services across the country in 2015. In addition, there were 670,887 child day care services without paid employees in 2014. Many mothers turn to these centers to help juggle motherhood and careers.
Sources: County Business Patterns: 2015 (NAICS 6244) https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/BP/2015/00A1//naics~6244
Nonemployer Statistics: 2014
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/NES/2014/00A2//naics~6244  
Note: New statistics will be available at the end of May for Nonemployer Statistics.

Single Moms

9.8 million 
The number of single mothers living with children younger than age 18 in 2016, up from 7.7 million in 1985.
Source: America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2016, Table FG6 
www.census.gov/data/tables/2016/demo/families/cps-2016.html

421,861
The number of women ages 15 to 50 living with a cohabiting partner in 2015 who had given birth in the past 12 months.
Source: 2015 American Community Survey, Table B13004
https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/15_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.

Graphic | JPG | PDF |
Jewel Jordan
Public Information Office           
301-763-3030 / [email protected]                               

census.gov 
Connect with us on Social media

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau

Related Links

http://www.census.gov