Melbourne, July 13 : It seems women in Australia are one career-oriented lot, for according to a new research an increasing number of professional women Down Under are putting their careers ahead of having kids and raising a family.

A new study, led by the National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling at the University of Canberra, has revealed that rate of childlessness among professional women aged 20 to 44 has gone up to 62.5 per cent today. 

The percentage is significantly above the overall childless rate among all Australian women aged 20 to 44, which now sits at 40 per cent. 

In Sydney, the childless rate among professional women sits at 61.7 per cent.

Brisbane doctor Elizabeth French said the demands of establishing a career in the likes of medicine or law is compelling many women to delay childbearing. 

"The reality is I did eight years at university. Then I did my intern year in 2006 and then I''ve done my residency and now I am about to start on the GP training program," Courier Mail quoted her as saying. 

"(Having children) just hasn''t been on the agenda because of work and study," she added. 

The study also found that country Queensland had the highest childless rate, with a third of women aged 20 to 44 not having any children.

"We know younger women are more likely to be childless. It''s just possible that the women we are looking at are slightly younger there (in Queensland regions). That might be a partial explanation for it," said NATSEM senior researcher Justine McNamara. (ANI)