Valentine's Day by the numbers

Valentine's Day isn't the first holiday that comes to mind when we think of shopping, but it has a big impact on the economy anyway.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were 1,317 U.S. companies manufacturing establishments that produced chocolate and cocoa products in 2008, employing 38,369 people. Together, firms producing chocolate and cocoa products shipped $12.2 billion in products in 2009.

But it isn't all chocolate -- there were also 422 establishments that manufactured nonchocolate confectionary products that year, employing 16,860 people, and shipping $7.1 billion in nonchocolate confectionery products.

Per capita, Americans consume 24.3 pounds of candy a year.

To go with that candy, Americans bought $359 million in cosmetically produced, cut flowers in 2009 for all flower-producing operations with $100,000 or more in sales in 2009. Of that, $18 million worth of domestically produced cut roses were sold by that same group of producers. To get those flowers to our sweeties, Americans have their choice of 18,509 florists nationwide.

If we have more permanent plans for Valentine's Day, we can visit 26,683 jewelry stores, buy a ring and join the 2.1 million Americans that got married in 2009 -- nearly 5,800 a day, many of them today.

A lot of them -- 108,150 -- got married in Nevada, ranking that state fifth in the nation, although it's 35th in population.

You're most likely to get married for the first time at 28.2 if you're a man and 26.1 if you're a woman, and if you're 15 years of age or older, you're 69 percent likely to have been married at some point in your life.

Nineteen percent of people who had been married as of 2009 had been married twice and 5 percent have been married three or more times, but 75 percent of people who have ever been married have made only one trip down the aisle.

The average first marriage that ends in divorce lasts eight years, most wait 31⁄2 years before entering a second marriage, and 52 percent of men 25 years of age and older and 44 percent of women who have ever been divorced are currently married.

Yes, the divorce rate continues to climb, but 73 percent of women who married for the first time between 1985 and 1989 marked their 10th anniversary compared to 87 percent between 1955 and 1959. And, 6 percent of currently married women have been married at least 50 years; slightly more than half of currently married women have been married at least 15 years.

And many of us don't give up if we are single; there were 393 dating service establishments nationwide in 2007, including Internet dating services, which employed 3,125 people and pulled in $927 million in revenue.

However we spend Valentine's Day, it's a good day to let those close to us know that we care.