Just 612 babies were born in Ceredigion last year

In Ceredigion last year 39.3 babies were born per 1,000 women of child-bearing age (15 to 44) - below the British average of 55 babies per 1,000 mothers.

A health expert has said the high educational attainment of women could be a reason for the low number of pregnancies.

The research was carried out for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy.

Its figures showed that across Britain 673,683 babies were born last year to around 12.4 million women of child-bearing age.

Education gives women aspiration to do more than just have babies Dr Paul Walker, director of public health

The London borough of Newham came top in the fertility table with a birth rate of 80.3 - more than twice that in Ceredigion.

The highest in Wales was in Newport with 60.5 babies - the Welsh average was 54.3, slightly below the British average.

Dr Paul Walker, director of public health in Ceredigion and Powys, suggested that Ceredigion's low rate could be related to high educational attainment.

"There's higher education attainment among women in Ceredigion and aspirations are therefore higher," he said.

"It's conceivable then that women will put off having children until later in life and may have less children because of their age."

In Ceredigion, just 612 babies were born in 2003 compared to 1,712 in Newport. More than 31,000 were born in total in Wales.

Women in the county may decide to have babies in later life, says Dr Walker

Dr Walker added: "In some parts of Wales teenage pregnancy is a big issue but less so in Ceredigion.

"Education gives women aspiration to do more than just have babies.

"It could also be that the access to information about family planning and contraception in Ceredigion is good."

Ceredigion council statistics show that in both GCSE and A-level, the county betters the average examination pass rate in Wales.

But Brian Thomas, of Ceredigion and Mid Wales NHS Trust, which runs the county's main maternity unit at Aberystwyth's Bronglais Hospital, questioned the accuracy of the birth rate figures.

"There's a percentage of mothers in south Ceredigion who will not have their babies at Bronglais," Mr Thomas said.

"It's more convenient for those mothers to go to West Wales General Hospital in Carmarthen or Withybush Hospital in Haverdfordwest.

"It's a similar situation in other bordering areas in Powys and south Gwynedd where it's more convenient for people to travel to Bronglais."

The birth rate figures have been published as part of a study by CSP about exercise routines for pregnant mothers.

It wanted to find out more information about birth rates to accompany its research and used figures compiled by the Office of National Statistics.

A spokeswoman for the CSP said she did not know why Ceredigion recorded Britain's lowest birth rates.