Sunday Marks Grandparents Day

A woman named Marian McQuade campaigned in the 1970s to dedicate a special day to America's grandparents, which led to former President Jimmy Carter in 1978 signing a presidential proclamation, declaring the first Sunday after as National Grandparents Day.

The first observance of the day was Sept. 9, 1979, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

With the day approaching Sunday, here is an overview of how grandparents are shaping our country, according to the numbers:

About 6.7 million grandparents had grandchildren younger than 18 living with them in 2009, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

And about 2.7 million of their grandparents were responsible for one or more of the grandchildren’s basic needs (such as food, shelter, clothing, etc.)

About 1 million grandparents were responsible for caring for their grandchildren for at least the previous five years in 2009, according to the census bureau.

About 8 percent of those grandparents caring for their grandchildren had income below the poverty level, according to the census bureau.

About 70 percent of those grandparents were either homeowners or lived in an owner-occupied home, according to the bureau.

The median income for families in which the grandparent was the caregiver in 2009 was $45,007, according to the bureau.

About 1.9 million of those grandparents were married, according to the bureau, and about 1.6 million were working in the labor force.

About 700,000 grandparents who were caring for their grandchildren in 2009 had a disability, according to the bureau.

In 2010, about 7.5 million children lived with a grandparent—that’s 10 percent of all children nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.