Mother's Day 2009

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Once a mom, always a mom

632,197 – The number of mothers in Slovenia at the 2002 population census
Since statistics on mothers is not very rich and complete data on mothers can only be collected by population censuses, we estimate that today there are around 670,000 mothers living in Slovenia.
Two thirds of these mothers live together with at least one of their children. The fact that as many as 29% of mothers live with at least one child older than 25 years shows that children are leaving their parents’ families later.
In Slovenia in recent years each year around 9,000 women give birth for the first time.

73% - The share of women aged over 14 who have already given birth at the 2002 population census
The population censuses have shown that the share of women who have already given birth changes significantly with age. At the 2002 population census teenage mothers were very rare in Slovenia (0.8%), among women aged 20 to 29 years almost one in three has already given birth, among women aged 30 to 39 years almost every ninth, and among women after 40 years of age, when most women finish the reproductive period, 91% have already given birth.

Mothers today and mothers in the past

19,554 – The number of mothers who gave birth in 2007 to 19,823 children
1.9% of all births were twins and triplets, which means that every 54 delivery in 2007 was a multiple baby delivery. In the mid-1990s only every 72^nd delivery was a multiple baby delivery.

291 – The number of children born in 2007 to teenage mothers (1.5%)
The highest share of children born to mothers under 20 years of age was recorded in the 1970s and at the beginning of the 1980s, when it exceeded 10%. In the last three years the share was under 2%.

47.4% - The share of mothers aged 30 years or more who gave birth in 2007
This is the highest share in the last fifty years. Among 9,458 mothers one in three gave birth for the first time. Thirty years ago the share of mothers aged 30 years or more was almost three times lower.

433 – The number of children born in 2007 to women aged 40 years or more (2.2%)
The share of these mothers has not changed much over the recent decades.

28.2 – The mean age of mother at the birth of the first child in 2007
This is the highest ever women's age at the birth of the first child. Postponing of motherhood to later ages has not stopped by 2007. In the mid-1970s first-time mothers were on average less than 23 years old. At the beginning of the 1960s at this age they on average gave birth to their second child. Postponement of births is the result of longer schooling, high employment rate of women and changed social norms.

48.7% - The share of women who in 2007 gave birth to the first child
36.5% of mothers had their second child, 11.2% third and 3.5% fourth or higher order child. Since the beginning of the 1970s each year about half of mothers give birth to the first child. In the mid-1950s, however, this share was less than 40%. At that time almost every fifth mother had the fourth or higher order child, while in the last 25 years only 3-4% of mothers have had four children or more.

19 – The number of mothers who in 2007 had their eighth child or more
Fifty years ago, the number of such mothers was significantly higher (622). In other words, this means that this many children were born to every 50^th mother and in 2007 to every 1000^th mother.

15 – The number of mothers who in 2007 gave birth at home
Between 1995 and 1999 every year twice as many children (30) were on average born outside the maternity hospitals, while in the mid-1950s the share was 44%. In the years after the Second World War the birth of a child in the maternity hospital was not self-evident. It is, however, true that due to widely spread midwifery assistance at that time only 2% of mothers did not have professional assistance at delivery.

50 – The number of women who in 2007 gave birth on Mother's Day, 25 March