New mothers in the U.S. are increasingly older and better educated than they were two decades ago, according to a study on the state of American motherhood by the Pew Research Center, reports Reuters Life! One in seven babies is born to a mother at least 35 years old, compared to one in 11 in 1990. Most mothers of newborns (54 percent) had at least some college education in 2008, up from 41 percent in 1990. And among mothers 35 or older, 71 percent had at least some college education. In fact, the rise in women's education levels changed the profile of the typical mother of a newborn baby.
While most women giving birth are married, a record 41 percent of births were to unmarried women in 2008, up from 28 percent in 1990, according to the study.What hasn't changed since the 1970s? Two is still the ideal number of children in a family for many Americans, and many couples cited "the joy of having children" as the reason for starting a family.Whatever their age, we wish them joy and a Happy Mother's Day!