More on moms, this time because there are fewer of them

See this story by Katie Zezima in today's NYTimes, with the headline "More Women Than Ever Are Childless, Census Finds." Here's a quote:

Twenty percent of women ages 40 to 44 have no children, double the level of 30 years ago, the report said; and women in that age bracket who do have children have fewer than ever — an average of 1.9 children, compared with the mean average of 3.1 children in 1976.

“A lot of women are not having any children,” said Jane Lawler Dye, a Census Bureau researcher who did the report, which looked at women of childbearing age in 2006. “It used to be sort of expected that there was a phase of life where you had children, and a lot of women aren’t doing that now,” Ms. Dye said.

I look forward to the time each year, in August, when the Census Bureau releases its annual reports based on figures for the prior year. It provides so much food for thought, and this story summarizes a lot of rich, current data about moms in the United States.

Next week, we'll get the rural and urban poverty stats for 2007, and we'll learn if the gap between the two continues to widen.