Britain is still "deeply elitist" with privately-educated pupils and Oxbridge graduates continuing to dominate top roles in society, a report warns.
Many of the country's judges, politicians, armed forces chiefs, journalists, TV executives, public officials and sports stars attended fee-paying schools before going to study at Oxford and Cambridge, it suggests.
This stark lack of diversity means that many of Britain's key institutions are not representative of the public they serve, and the people running them may not understand the daily issues facing people from different backgrounds, according to the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission.
The commission's chair, Alan Milburn, said the findings were a wake-up call, and suggested that institutions need to open their doors to a broader range of talent.
The study analysed the backgrounds of more than 4000 individuals holding top jobs in British society.
It concludes that Britain's elite is still "formed on the playing fields of independent schools" and "finished in Oxbridge's dreaming spires".
More than seven in ten (71 per cent) of senior judges, 62 per cent of senior armed forces officers, more than half of permanent secretaries (55 per cent) - the most senior civil servants in government, 53 per cent of senior diplomats, 45 per cent of public body chairs, 44 per cent of the Sunday Times Rich List, 43 per cent of newspaper columnists, 35 per cent of national rugby teams, a third (33 per cent) of the England cricket team and 26 per cent of BBC executives attended a fee-paying school, the study found.
Former private school pupils are also over-represented in politics, with half of the House of Lords attending an independent school along with more than a third (36 per cent) of the cabinet, a third (33 per cent) of MPs, and 22 per cent of the shadow cabinet.
Around 7 per cent of the UK population attended a private school, the study says.
The statistics also reveal the numbers in each profession who went to Oxford or Cambridge.
The most over-represented professions were the judiciary, with 75 per cent of senior judges attending one of these two universities, along with 59 per cent of the cabinet, 57 per cent of permanent secretaries and 50 per cent of diplomats.
In addition, 47 per cent of newspaper columnists are Oxbridge graduates, as are 38 per cent of the House of Lords, 33 per cent of the Shadow Cabinet and 24 per cent of MPs.
The study compares this with the adult population, which shows that 62 per cent of UK adults have not been to university, one in nine went to Russell Group universities and less than one in 100 graduated from Oxford or Cambridge.
"Our examination of who gets the top jobs in Britain today found elitism so stark that it could be called 'social engineering'," it says.
"This research highlights a dramatic over-representation of those educated at independent schools and Oxbridge across the institutions that have such a profound influence on what happens in our country," Milburn said.
"It suggests that Britain is deeply elitist."
"Our research shows it is entirely possible for politicians to rely on advisers to advise, civil servants to devise policy solutions and journalists to report on their actions having all studied the same courses at the same universities, having read the same books, heard the same lectures and even being taught by the same tutors.
"This risks narrowing the conduct of public life to a small few, who are very familiar with each other but far less familiar with the day-to-day challenges facing ordinary people in the country."
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