The driving force behind Mother’s Day was Anna Jarvis, who organized observances in Grafton, W.Va., and Philadelphia, Pa., on May 10, 1908. While the annual celebration spread around the country, Jarvis began lobbying politicians 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
80.5 million
Estimated number of mothers of all ages in the United States. (Source: unpublished Survey of Income and Program Participation data)

65%
Percentage of women in Mississippi and Arkansas, ages 15 to 44, who are mothers. The national average is 55 percent. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html>

81%
Percentage of women 40 to 44 years old who are mothers. In 1976, 90 percent of women in that age group were mothers. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html>

How Many Children
2.0
Average number of children that women today can expect to have in their lifetime. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

2.6
Average number of children that women in Utah can expect to have in their lifetime. This state tops the nation in average number of births per woman. Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont have the lowest average number — 1.7 births. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

7.5
Average number of children that women in Niger, in Africa, can expect to have in their lifetime. This country has the highest fertility rate in the world. At the other end of the spectrum are Italy and Spain, in Southern Europe, where 1.3 children is the average birth rate. <http://www.census.gov/ipc/www/idbprint.html>

Mothers Remembered
22,022
Number of florist establishments nationwide in 2003. The 113,270 employees in floral shops across our nation will be especially busy preparing, selling and delivering floral arrangements for Mother’s Day. <http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/cbptotal.html>

The flowers bought for mom have a good chance of having been grown in California or Colombia. Among the 36 surveyed states, California was the leading provider of cut flowers in 2005, accounting for more than two-thirds of the domestic flower production ($289 million out of $397 million) in those states. Meanwhile, the value of U.S. imports of cut flowers and fresh flower buds in 2005 from Colombia, the leading foreign supplier to the United States, was more than $418 million.
<http://usda.mannlib.cornell.edu/reports/nassr/other/zfc-bb/> and
<http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/www/>

More Than 150 million
The estimated number of Mother’s Day cards that will be given this year in the United States, making Mother’s Day the third-largest card sending occasion. Months ahead of this widely observed day of recognition, many of the 14,318 employees of the 114 greeting-card publishing establishments in 2003 will be busy creating Mother’s Day greeting cards. (Sources: Hallmark research and <http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/cbptotal.html>)

11,938
The number of cosmetics, beauty supplies and perfume stores nationwide in 2003. Perfume is one of the top gifts given on Mother’s Day. <http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/cbptotal.html>

28,527
Number of jewelry stores in the United States in 2003 — the place to go to purchase necklaces, earrings and other timeless pieces for mom. <http://www.census.gov/prod/www/abs/cbptotal.html>

Moms Who’ve Recently Given Birth
About 4 million
Number of women who have babies each year in the United States. Of this number, about 415,000 are teens ages 15 to 19, and more than 100,000 new moms are age 40 or older. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

13.3%
Percentage of Arkansas women with a birth in the last year who were teens. This percentage is among the highest in the country.
<http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/american_community_survey_acs/005807.html>

238,000
Number of cohabiting women who, as of 2004, had given birth in the last year. There were 1.2 million nonmarital births overall. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html>

25.2
Average age of women when they give birth for the first time — a record high. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

40%
Percentage of births that are the mother’s first. Another 32 percent are the second-born; 17 percent, third; and 11 percent, fourth or more. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

35,723
Number of births in 2003 that did not occur in hospitals. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

1-in-32
The odds of a woman delivering twins. Her odds of delivering multiple births of three or more babies was approximately 1-in-534. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

July
The most popular month in which to have a baby, with 364,226 births taking place that month
in 2003. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

Tuesday
The most popular day of the week in which to have a baby, with an average of about 13,000 births taking place on Tuesdays during 2003. <http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr54/nvsr54_02.pdf>

Jacob & Emily
The most popular baby names for boys and girls, respectively, in 2004. (Source: Social Security Administration, at <http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/pr/baby-names2004-pr.htm>.)

Working Moms
5.6 million
Number of stay-at-home moms in 2004.
<http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/hh-fam.html>

55%
Among mothers with infant children in 2004, the percentage in the labor force, down from a record high of 59 percent in 1998. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html>

80%
The percentage of mothers ages 15 to 44 whose last birth was 12 or more years ago and are in the labor force. <http://www.census.gov/population/www/socdemo/fertility.html>

51%
The percentage of women who gave birth to their first child and returned to work within four months. <http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p70-103.pdf>

$92
Average weekly child-care payments for the more than 9 million mothers who reported they made such payments for at least one of their children.
<http://www.census.gov/prod/2005pubs/p70-101.pdf>

Single Moms
10 million
The number of single mothers living with children under 18 years old, up from 3 million in 1970. <http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo/hh-fam/tabFM-2.pdf>