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News Release

Last modified: Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Mother's Day in Indiana by the numbers

Some statistics from the Indiana Business Research Center

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 5, 2010

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Just in time for Mother's Day this Sunday (May 9), the Indiana Business Research Center in Indiana University's Kelley School of Business has offered some interesting statistics.

Below are facts about Hoosier motherhood, based on the most current data:

Mommy Dearest

• There were an estimated 82.8 million mothers in the United States in 2004. A similar estimation in Indiana would equate to nearly 1.7 million mothers in 2004.
• In 2006, the average number of children per woman in Indiana in 2006 was 2.08. This is very similar to the 2007 U.S. number of 2.1. Utah led the nation at 2.6 in 2006, while Vermont had the fewest at 1.7 births per woman.
• About 600,000 women between the ages of 18 to 44 in the United States have become mothers through the adoption of a child as of 2002. Adoptive mothers tend to be older as 81 percent are 35 to 44 years of age compared to 52 percent of non-adoptive mothers.
• 42.4 percent of Hoosier babies were born to unmarried mothers in 2007. This is higher than the national average of 39.7 percent.
• The percentage of single mother households, with children younger than 18 years old, was 26.6 percent in Indiana. This is higher than the national average of 25.5 percent.

Hoosier Women Who've Recently Given Birth

• 92,450 Hoosier women between the ages of 15 and 50 had a baby in 2008. Of them, 80 percent were women between the ages of 20 and 34. Another 14.5 percent were between 35 and 50 years of age. The mean age of new mothers in Indiana was 24 years old in 2006 compared to the national average of 25 years old.
• Of these new moms in 2008, 63.7 percent were women who were married (statistics include those who were separated or their spouses were absent at birth).
• 57.7 percent were new mothers who had at least some college/associate degree or higher. Another 24.2 percent had a high school degree or equivalent.
• Nearly every Hoosier mother, or 98.4 percent, gave birth in a hospital, and 0.67 percent (1,185 mothers) had their babies at home in 2006. The number of births outside of the hospital declined 21.2 percent from 2004 data. In 2006, 29 percent gave birth via cesarean delivery, which is lower than the national average of 31.1 percent.
• 32.2 of every 1,000 live births in Indiana were twins in 2006, which was the same as the national figure. Indiana had more triplets per 100,000 live births in 2006 than the United States (190.1 vs. 163.9).

Remembering Mom

• Not everyone celebrates Mother's Day -- just 83.8 percent of Midwesterners will celebrate Mother's Day this year. Nine percent say they will celebrate it more, compared to the 14.6 percent who will celebrate it less than last year.
• Americans are expected to spend a total of $14.6 billion on Mother's Day in 2010. This would be an average of $126.90 per person, a 2.4 percent increase from 2009.
• The top five gifts expected to be given in 2010 will be a card (81.5 percent nationally, 80.9 percent among Midwesterners); flowers, (65.2 percent, U.S.; 62 percent, Midwest); a special outing or meal (51.8 percent, U.S.; 50.8 percent, Midwest); a gift certificate (34.1 percent, U.S.; 31.8 percent, Midwest); and clothing (28.4 percent, U.S.; 25.1 percent, Midwest). Gifts might be stand-alone or given in conjunction with something else.
• The 493 florist establishments in Indiana will be very busy for the holiday, along with their 2,469 workers who will prepare, sell and deliver floral arrangements. A popular choice for Mother's Day is carnations.

Working and Stay-at Home Moms

• There were 5.1 million stay-at-home moms in the United States in 2009, which is down from 5.3 million in 2008. In 2009, 22.6 percent of married-couple family groups with children under 18 had a stay-at-home mother, down from 23.7 percent in 2009.
• Compared with other moms, stay-at-home moms in 2007 were more likely to be younger than 35 years old (44 percent of stay-at-home moms vs. 38 percent of mothers in the labor force), Hispanic (27 percent vs. 16 percent), foreign-born (34 percent vs. 19 percent), living with a preschool-age child (57 percent vs. 43 percent) and without a high school diploma (19 percent vs. 8 percent).
• 65.3 percent of women in married-couple households with children under 18 were employed or in the Armed Forces in 2008. This compares to 92.3 percent of husbands in the same households. Another 24.6 percent of the women were not in the labor force and may have been stay-at-home moms.
• 75.9 percent of Hoosier single mothers with children under 18 were either employed or in the Armed Forces in 2008. Nearly 15.8 percent of single mothers were not in the labor force and could have been stay-at-home moms.
• More than half, or 57.1 percent, of first-time mothers in the early 2000s worked at a full-time job (35 hours or more) during their pregnancy. Over time, this percentage has steadily increased from 39.7 percent in the early 1960s.
• Of these first-time mothers continuing to work through their pregnancy, 57.7 percent were back on the job by the third month after they gave birth. In the early 1960s, the corresponding percentage was 16.5 percent.
• 83 percent of mothers who went back to work within a year of their child's birth returned to the same employer in the early 2000s. Seven in 10 of these women returned to jobs at the same pay, skill level and hours worked per week.

The Indiana Business Research Center is part of a national network of State Data Centers and acts as the official state representative to the Census Bureau on matters relating to the census and population estimates. The IBRC also develops and maintains STATS Indiana, the award winning, state-supported Web service (www.stats.indiana.edu).

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