Sunday, May 1, 2011

Fun Facts: Mother's Day

Compliments of Gatehouse News Service:

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 finally succeeded in 1914, when Congress designated the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day.

The following information is from the United States Census Bureau

How Many Mothers

85.4 million Estimated number of mothers in the United States in 2008.

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

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

How Many Children

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.

94 percent Among the 37.8 million mothers living with children younger than 18 in 2004, the percentage who lived with their biological children only. In addition, 3 percent lived with stepchildren, 2 percent with any adopted children and less than 1 percent with any foster children.

Moms Who've Recently Given Birth

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. The increase in the mean age from 2007 to 2008 reflects, in part, the relatively large decline in births to women under age 25 compared with the small decline for women in the 25-39 age bracket.

40 percent Percentage of births that were the mother's first in 2008. Another 32 percent were the second-born; 17 percent, third; and 7 percent, fourth.

18,986 Number of births in 2008 that were the mother's eighth or more.

42,746 Number of births in 2008 that did not occur in hospitals. Of these, 28,357 were in a residence (home) and 12,014 were in a freestanding birthing center.

32.6 Number of twin births per 1,000 total births in 2008, the highest rate on record.

6,268 Number of triplet and higher order multiple births in 2008, the lowest number reported in more than a decade. The 2008 triplet and higher order multiple total included 5,877 triplets, 345 quadruplets, and 46 quintuplets and higher order multiples.

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.

Jacob and Isabella. The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2009.

71 Number of births in the past year per 1,000 women 15 to 50 with a graduate or professional degree. These women have a higher fertility rate than those with any other level of education.

Mothers Remembered

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.

85 percent The percentage of single-race Asians 25 and older who had at least a high school diploma. This is not statistically different from the percentage for the total population or the percentage of Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander alone, 85 and 86 percent respectively.

11,715 Number of employees of the 107 greeting-card publishing establishments in 2008.

14,027 The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2008. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother's Day.



3 comments:

  1. Wow, lots of trivia! Never know there were almost 85 million mothers in the US, interesting fact.

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  2. I agree with Jason. Nice to know that July was the month with the highest number of births, with 375,384 in 2008. I guess that means that there were mostly winter weddings in 2007.

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  3. LOL! Who knows who married who in the Winter... lots of babies, just the same!

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