By contrast the unemployment rate of people from black, asian and ethnic minority backgrounds is 8 per cent, compared to 4.6 per cent for white Britons.

And while two in three white British households own their homes, only two in five from any other ethnic group do.

The review, which will be published next week, examines how people from different backgrounds are treated across areas including health, education, employment and in the criminal justice system.

The results of the review will be published on a website, Ethnicity Facts and Figures, which is intended to be a "permanent resource" allowing people to see how their ethnic background affects every area of their lives.

Mrs May said: “In doing this ground-breaking work we are holding a mirror up to our society. The idea itself is not new – Charles Booth’s maps of rich and poor areas in Victorian London drew attention to hardship that was too often hidden – but this focus on how ethnicity affects people’s lives will present findings that are uncomfortable.

“My most fundamental political belief is that how far you go in life should be based on your talent and how hard you work - and nothing else. Britain has come a long way in my lifetime in spreading equality and opportunity, but this Audit will be definitive evidence of how far we must still go in order to truly build a country that works for everyone.”

Other findings from the data will include a map of where young black children do best in school, the proportion of judges from ethnic minorities, where fear of crime is greatest and whether white teenagers are more or less likely to smoke.

The Prime Minister is setting out "targeted" action in "hotspot" areas where there are significant gaps in employment.

The interventions will include expanding successful mentoring programmes to help people into work and targeted traineeship programmes to help young people.