UNITED STATES DEPT. OF COMMERCE
May 5, 1997 CB97-FS.05 MEMORANDUM FOR Reporters, Editors, News Directors From: LaVerne Vines Collins Chief, Public Information Office Subject: Facts for Mother's Day Each month, we plan to provide previously released facts pertaining to selected events or holidays occurring that month. Questions or comments should be directed to the Census Bureau's Public Information Office (Tel: 301-457-3030; fax: 301-457-3670; e-mail: pio@census.gov). Census Facts For Mother's Day - In 1993, 73.9 million of the Nation's 103.4 million women 15 years old and over were mothers. - Of the 73.9 million mothers, 23 percent had given birth to one child during their lifetimes, 35 percent to two children, 21 percent to three, 11 percent to four and 10 percent to five or more. There is no significant difference between the percentage with four and the percentage with five or more children. - On average, mothers 15 and over in 1993 had given birth to 2.7 children in their lifetimes. This average climbed depending on age, with the range going from 1.5 children for mothers 15 to 24 years old to 3.1 children for those 45 years old and over. - Approximately 7.8 million mothers were born outside the United States. - The median age of women who gave birth in 1993 was 26.4 years; those giving birth for the first time were 23.8 years. These median ages were 1.0 and 1.7 years older respectively than they were 20 years earlier. - In 1995, there were nearly 10 million single mothers with children under 18. http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/cb96-195.html - Of the 22.8 million never-married women 15 to 44 years old in 1995, 21 percent were mothers. - Overall, 14 percent (504,000) of all births in the United States in 1995 were to foreign-born women; 43 percent of these 504,000 births were to women born in Mexico. - The value of shipments of Mother's Day cards by greeting card publishers totaled $147.9 million in 1992, up from $80.2 million in 1987. http://www.census.gov/prod/1/manmin/92mmi/92manuff.html
