One in twenty British graduates are unemployed or have never worked, a new survey of British demographics has revealed.

In comparison, 25 percent of those who left school at 16 with GCSE-level qualifications are not in work.

Scotland lags behind the rest of the UK in terms of the numbers of graduates from poor backgrounds. Only three per cent of Scots from the lowest income bracket gain degrees, compared to six percent in England.

An increasing gender gap in British education has seen boys slip behind as early as the age of five, underperform at GCSE and enter university in lower numbers.

In Scotland, England and Wales it is only into the top two income strata that the percentage of men with degree-level qualifications marginally outweighs that of women.

Scotland lags behind the rest of theA spokesman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission Scotland told the Press Association: "Too many people’s life chances are determined by where they are born." He added that there remains a "huge gap" between aspirations and achievement for many people.

Ethnic divisions in higher education revealed a huge disparity between students from different ethnic backgrounds, with white students taking the highest percentages of Firsts and 2.1 degrees at 15 per cent and 52 per cent respectively.

At secondary school level pupils from Chinese and Indian backgrounds are most successful regardless of their gender and background, with Chinese girls the highest achievers, averaging five A*-C GCSEs.

These deep divisions within British society were highlighted by How Fair is Britain?, a 700-page report from the Equality and Human Rights Commission on discrimination and disadvantage in British society.

According to the study, both men and women from the highest social class can expect to live up to seven years longer than those from lower socio-economic groups.

The figures also revealed that 22 per cent of men and 25 per cent of women living in a same sex relationship are educated to degree level, compared to 13 per cent of the rest of the population.

The latest Sunday Times University Guide recently disclosed that 19 per cent of University Of Edinburgh students are registered as coming from "working class" homes.