Statistics Canada
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Mother's Day... by the numbers
Mother's Day is Sunday, May 14
Mothers, young and old
29.6 - The average age of mothers who gave birth in 2003, continuing a long-established upward trend. Two decades ago, the average age was 26.9 years.
48% - The percentage of mothers in Canada who were age 30 and older when they gave birth in 2003.
52% - The percentage of mothers in Canada who were under age 30 when they gave birth in 2003.
30.3 - The average age of mothers in Ontario who gave birth in 2003, the oldest in Canada.
25.3 - The average age of mothers in Nunavut who gave birth in 2003, the youngest in Canada.
Source: The Daily, July 12, 2005, "Births".
94 - The number of females in Canada under the age of 15 who had given birth (live births) in 2003.
346 - The number of females in Canada aged 45 to 49 who had given birth (live births) in 2003.
Source: CANSIM Table 102-4508, "Live births, by age and parity of mother, Canada, annual".
New mothers
28.0 - The average age among women who gave birth for the first time in 2003.
21.7 - The average age of first-time mothers in Nunavut, the youngest in Canada in 2003.
Source : The Daily, July 12, 2005, "Births".
Fertility rate
1.53 - The average number of children a woman aged 15 to 49 will have in her lifetime (total fertility rate).
3.1 - The average number of children a woman aged 15 to 49 living in Nunavut will have in her lifetime, the highest total fertility rate of any province or territory.
1.3 - The average number of children a woman aged 15 to 49 living in Newfoundland and Labrador will have in her lifetime, the lowest total fertility rate of any province or territory.
Source : The Daily, July 12, 2005, "Births".
Large families
287 - The number of women in Canada who had given birth to their 10th child or more (live birth) in 2003.
15 - The number of women in Canada aged 45 to 49 who had given birth to their 10th child or more (live birth) in 2003.
Source: CANSIM Table 102-4508, "Live births, by age and parity of mother, Canada, annual".
Single mothers
550,000 - The estimated number of single-parent families headed by women in Canada in 2004.
$27,700 - The after tax income of lone-parent families headed by women in 2004.
Source: The Daily, Thursday, March 30, 2006, "Income of Canadians".
38% - The proportion of families headed by lone-parent mothers that had incomes which fell below the after-tax low income cut-off (LICO) in 2003. In comparison, this was the case for 13% of male lone-parent families and just 7% of non-elderly two-parent families with children. The incidence of low income among lone-parent families headed by women has declined somewhat since the early 1980s, when the figure hovered around 50%.
68% - The percentage of female lone parents who were employed in 2004.
Source: The Daily, Tuesday, March 7, 2006, "Women in Canada".
Working Mothers
65% - The percentage of all women with children under the age of three who were employed in 2004.
70% - The percentage of women whose youngest child was aged three to five who worked for pay in 2004.
Source: The Daily, Tuesday, March 7, 2006, "Women in Canada".
54% - The proportion of children in Canada aged six months to five years who were in some form of child care in 2002-2003, up from 42% in 1994-1995. (From the National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth.)
Source: The Daily, Wednesday, April 5, 2006, "Child care: An eight-year profile".
Babies in 2003
It's a boy!
171,691 - The number of boys born in Canada in 2003.
It's a girl!
163,511 - The number of girls born in Canada in 2003.
335,202 - The number of babies born in 2003, up 1.9% from 2002.
30,300 - The number of babies born in July, 2003, the month with the greatest number of births that year (9.0% of all births).
24,908 - The number of babies born in February, 2003, the month with the fewest number of births that year (7.4% of all births).
10.6 - The crude birth rate (number of live births for every 1,000 people in the population) in 2003, a slight recovery from the record low set in 2002.
Source : The Daily, July 12, 2005, "Births".
Once a mother, always a mother
32% - The proportion of parents (whose youngest child was between 20 and 34 years of age) in 2001 who had at least one child living with them. Of these parents, one-quarter were living with an adult child or "boomerang kid" who had returned to live in the parental home after already leaving once (or more).
Source: The Daily, Tuesday, March 21, 2006, "Study: Parents with adult children living at home".
Thanks Mom!
Flowers are a typical gift to mothers on this day.
$1.4 billion - The total value of ornamental flower and plant sales in Canada in 2005.
Source: The Daily, Friday, April 21, 2006, "Greenhouse, sod and nursery industries".
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