Mother's Day: Fun Facts by the Numbers

Happy Mother's Day! Here are a few things you might not know about today's holiday:

How Did Mother's Day Begin?

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.

How Many Mothers?

85.4 million

Estimated number of mothers in the United States in 2009.
Source: Survey of Income and Program Participation, unpublished tabulations

4.0 million

Number of women between the ages of 15 and 50 who gave birth in the past 12 months.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2008

53%

Percentage of 15- to 50-year-old women who were mothers in 2010.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010

81%

Percentage of women who had become mothers by age 40 to 44 as of 2010. In 1976, 90 percent of women in that age group had given birth.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010

How Many Children

2.5

The total fertility rate or number of births in 2009 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 1.6 births per woman.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics

20%

Percentage of all women age 15 to 44 who have had two children. About 47 percent had no children, 17 percent had one, 10 percent had three and about 5 percent had four or more.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010, Detailed Tables

Recent Births

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 women age 45 to 54.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics

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 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.
Source: National Center for Health Statistics

55%

Percentage of mothers with a birth in 2010 who were in the labor force. This decreased from from 57 percent in 2008.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010, table 6

Jacob and Isabella

The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2010.
Source: Social Security Administration 

73

Number of births in the past year per 1,000 women age 15 to 44 with a graduate or professional degree. The number per 1,000 for women whose highest level of education was a bachelor's degree was 59.7.
Source: Fertility of American Women: 2010

Mothers Remembered

17,124

Number of florist establishments nationwide in 2009. The 75,855 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother's Day.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2009 

The flowers bought for mom have a good chance of having been grown in California. Among the 15 surveyed states, California was the leading provider of cut flowers in 2009, accounting for 75 percent of domestic flower production ($269 million out of $359 million at wholesale value) in those states. (The data pertain only to operations with sales greater than or equal to $100,000.)
Source: USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service

11,044

Number of employees of the 99 greeting-card publishing establishments in 2009.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2009 

14,279

The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2009. Perfume is a popular gift given on Mother's Day.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2009 

24,973

Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2009 — the place to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom.
Source: County Business Patterns: 2009 

Credit: Palm Beach (Fla.) Patch