Census Bureau Facts for Features
A product of the U.S. Census Bureau's Public Information Office
CB98-FF.06 May 4, 1998 Mother's Day 1998: May 10 How Many Children Do Mothers Have? Among the 35 million mothers in the United States ages 15 to 44 in 1995, 10.8 million had one child, 13.9 million had two, 6.9 million had three and 3.4 million had four or more. Women aged 40 to 44 in 1995 completed their childbearing years with an average of two children each. For Hispanic women, the number was 2.6, higher than that for either African-American (2.1) or White (1.9) women. The figures for all women aged 40 to 44 and African-American and White women in this age group are not significantly different from one another. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html> As of 1995, there had been 1,545 births to every 1,000 women aged 15 to 44 in Idaho among the highest rates in the nation. Women in Massachusetts had among the lowest rates (959 children ever born per 1,000 women of childbearing ages). http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html> Worldwide, as of 1998, Mali, Niger, Somalia, Uganda and Yemen had among the highest total fertility rates (i.e., the number of births per woman during their lifetime), with more than seven births per woman, while Andorra, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania and Latvia had among the lowest (1.2 or less). The rate in the United States was 2.1. http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbnew.html Never-Married Moms In 1995, about 1 in 5 never-married women aged 15 to 44 were mothers. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html Single Moms The number of single mothers in the United States jumped about 60 percent between 1980 and 1997, from 6.2 million to 10.0 million. Consequently, their families comprised 27 percent of all parent-child situations in 1997, up from 19 percent in 1980. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html Most single mothers (7.9 million, or 79 percent) maintained their own household in 1997. The remainder lived in the home of either a relative or a nonrelative. http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html Working Moms As of 1995, the majority (55 percent) of women ages 15 to 44 who had given birth in the previous year were in the labor force, up from 31 percent in 1976. The percentage was even higher (77 percent) if the woman was 30 to 44 and the birth was her first. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html> In 1994, employed women nationwide with 10 million preschoolers needed child care while they worked. About 43 percent of these children received care from relatives other than their mothers (fathers, grandparents, siblings, aunts or uncles) during most of the mothers' working hours. Another 29 percent went to a day-care center or nursery school, while 6 percent received care from their mothers at their workplaces or while they worked at home. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb98-08.html Foreign-Born Moms Among 15- to 44-year-olds, foreign-born women were more likely to be mothers in 1995 than native-born women (67 percent and 57 percent). http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb97-192.html The preceding facts come from the Current Population Survey, Survey of Income and Program Participation and the Census Bureau's International Data Base. The data are subject to sampling variability and other sources of error. Previous 1998 Census Bureau Facts for Features were issued for African-American History Month (Feb.), Valentine's Day (Feb. 14), Women's History Month (Mar.), Secretaries' Day (Apr. 22) and Asian and Pacific Islander American Heritage Month (May). Questions or comments on this product should be directed to the Census Bureau's Public Information Office (Tel: 301-457-3030; Fax: 301-457-3670; E-mail: pio@census.gov).
