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 2www.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 S1301https://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
Source: https://www.census.gov/en.html
