pop "Statistical Facts for Women's History Month" (03/20/95)

                        IMMEDIATE RELEASE


Public Information Office                         CB95-60
301-457-2794
301-457-4067 (TDD)

Population Statistical Information Staff
301-457-2422

Income Statistics Branch
301-763-8576

    CENSUS BUREAU STATISTICAL FACTS FOR WOMEN'S HISTORY MONTH
                           (MARCH 1995)

     Important facts about the women of our nation, such as that
they vote in greater numbers than men, can be found in a Census
Bureau fact sheet being released today in celebration of National
Women's History Month.  For instance:

     -    Women keep voting in greater numbers than men.  In the
          1992 presidential elections, 61 million of 97 million
          voting-age women (62 percent) cast their ballots
          compared with 53 million of 89 million men              
          (60 percent).  In 1988, 55 million of 94 million
          voting-age women (58 percent) voted compared with       
          48 million of 85 million men (56 percent).

     -    The proportion of women between 25 and 34 years of age
          who have never been married nearly tripled between 
          1970 and 1993, from 9 percent in 1970 to 26 percent in
          1993.

     -    The number of unmarried women in the childbearing years
          (between ages 15 and 44) who had babies jumped by 
          50 percent between 1982 (30 out of every 1,000) and
          1992 (45 out of every 1,000).

     -    Women are having more children--2.0 children per capita
          during their lifetimes as of 1994--than they were 
          10 years ago--1.8 children per capita during their
          lifetimes as of 1984.

     -    There were about six times as many single mothers 
          (9.3 million) as single fathers (1.6 million) in 1993,
          meaning that in about 86 percent of one-parent
          households, it is the father who is absent from the
          home.  In 1970, 90 percent of single parents were
          mothers.

     -    Women are here to stay in the nation's work force.  Of
          the total 63.4 million working women 16 years of age
          and over in 1993, 33.5 million of them worked full-time
          year-round.

     -    Women still trail men in educational attainment; 
          although there was no statistical difference in high 
          school completion (about 80 percent for both), 
          24.8 percent of men and 19.2 percent of women had
          bachelor's degrees in 1993.

     -    Women's median annual earnings for those who worked
          year-round, full-time, was up in 1993 ($21,744)
          compared with 1983's median of $20,188 (1993 dollars). 
          Men's median earnings in 1993 ($30,407) slipped in
          comparison to 1983 ($31,745 in 1993 dollars).

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March 20, 1995