Fun facts: Mother's Day

May 8, 2011

Mother’s Day is Sunday, May 8. To help you celebrate here are some fun facts about the holiday courtesy of the U.S. Census Bureau:

The driving force behind Mother's Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized

observances in Grafton, West Virginia  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.

85.4 million

Estimated number of mothers in the United States in 2008.

54%

Percentage of 15- to 44-year-old women who were mothers in 2008.

82%

Percentage of women 40 to 44 who had given birth as of 2008. In 1976, 90% of women in that age group had given birth.

2.6

The total fertility rate or number of births in 2008 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

1.7 births per woman.

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 mothers 45 to 54.

25.1

Average age of women in 2008 when they gave birth for the first time, up

from 25.0 years in 2006 and 2007.

July

The month with the highest number of births, with 375,384 in 2008.

Tuesday

The most common day to deliver, with an average of 13,415 births taking

place on Tuesdays in 2008.

18,509

Number of florist establishments nationwide in 2008. The 89,741 employees

in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother's Day.

5 million

Number of stay-at-home moms in 2010 -- down from 5.1 million in 2009 and

5.3 million in 2008. In 2010, 23% of married-couple family

groups with children under 15 had a stay-at-home mother, up from

21 percent in 2000.

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

--   Younger (44% were under 35 compared with 38% of mothers

in the labor force).

--   Foreign-born (34% compared with 19% of mothers in the

labor force).

--   Living with a preschool-age child (57% compared with 43% of mothers in the labor

force).

--Without a high school diploma (19% versus 8% of mothers

in the labor force).

9.9 million

The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2010,

up from 3.4 million in 1970.

38%

Of the 4 million women 15 to 44 years old who had a birth in the last year,

1.5 million  were to women who were not married, who were

separated, or married but with an absent spouse.