Mothers by the Numbers

Updated February 21, 2017 | Factmonster Staff

Info about mothers from the Census Bureau

 

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How Many Mothers

43.5 million

Number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 who have children. These mothers gave birth to 95.8 million children.

3.9 million

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

35.8%

Percentage of women age 15 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months who were unmarried.

How Many Children

62.9

Number of births per 1,000 women age 15-44 in 2014, up slightly (less than 1 percent) from 2013.

22.3%

Percentage of women age 15 to 50 who have had 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.

Characteristics of Women with a Recent Birth

3.988 million

The number of registered births in 2014, which was 1 percent more than in 2013. Of this number, 249,078 were to teens 15 to 19.

61.8%

Percentage of women age 16 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months who were in the labor force.

31.3%

The percentage of women who had given birth in the past 12 months who had a bachelor’s degree or higher.

86.3%

Percentage of women age 15 to 50 who gave birth in the past year and who have at least a high school diploma or equivalent.

63

Number of births in the past year per 1,000 women age 15 to 50 with a graduate or professional degree. The number was 55 per 1,000 for women whose highest level of education was a bachelor’s degree.

Noah and Emma

The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2014.

Mothers Celebrated

14,161

Number of florists nationwide in 2013. The 62,222 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother’s Day.

15,113

Number of employees of greeting-card publishers in 2013.

16,288

The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2013. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother’s Day.

23,096

Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2013 - the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom.

Stay-at-Home Moms

5.2 million

Number of stay-at-home moms in married couple family groups in 2015.

Taking Care of the Kids

862,043

Number of people employed at one of the 74,939 child day care services across the country in 2013. In addition, there were 688,728 child day care services without paid employees in 2013. Many mothers turn to these centers to help juggle motherhood and careers.

9.9 million

The number of single mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2015, up from 7.7 million in 1985.

415,617

Number of women age 15 to 50 who had a birth in the past 12 months and were living with a cohabiting partner.


More from Mother's Day

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