Among 35 million American mothers ages 15 to 44 in 1995, 10.8 million had one child, 13.9 million had two, 6.9 million had three and 3.4 million had four or more.
Idaho had the nation's highest birthrate in 1995. There were 1,545 births for every 1,000 women ages 15 to 44. Massachusetts had the lowest rate, with 959 children born per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44.
The number of single mothers in America -- 9.8 million last year -- has remained constant since 1995, after nearly tripling over the previous quarter century. Nearly one in five single mothers was raising three or more of her own children in 1998.
As of 1995, more than 800,000 women ages 15 to 19, about one in 10 women in this age range, were mothers.
And let's not forget that the census also reports 20 percent of women in their 40s are not moms, up from 10 percent in the mid-'70s. This is one in five according to Terri Casey, author of "Pride and Joy: The Lives and Passions of Women Without Children" (Beyond Words Publishing), and Molly Peacock, author of "Paradise, Piece by Piece" (Riverhead). The authors say the percentage of nonmoms could climb to 30 percent by 2015.
