One in 10 children in Britain now lives in a mixed-race family, which raises the prospect of a non-racist Britain, according to the study conducted at the University of Essex.

It says that mixed-race relationships are now so common that some ethnic groups - starting with African-Caribbean - will virtually disappear in future, the research states.

Half of all men in Britain who have Caribbean heritage and are in a relationship already have partners of a different race.

The same is true of one in five black African men, one in 10 Indian men and women and two out of five Chinese women, The Observer reported.

Young people are six times more likely to be mixed-race as adults. Experts believe the findings mean that future generations "will not see race in the way we see it".

Lucinda Platt, author of the report and an academic at the Institute of Social and Economic Research at Essex University, describes the shift towards a mixed-race Britain as "dramatic".

The study shows that 9 per cent of children are of "mixed or multiple heritage" - that is, they live with parents from different ethnic groups, or they are themselves of mixed ethnicity.