One in three British men born in 1953 has been convicted of at least one criminal offence, according to a research.

More than half of these men were convicted of one offence and about one in five (18 per cent) had been convicted more than five times, the Ministry of Justice said.

By comparison, fewer than one in 10 women (nine per cent) born in the same year have been convicted of a criminal offence.

Overall, 15 per cent of people aged between 10 and 52 in England and Wales in 2006 were estimated to have been convicted of a crime.

This figure breaks down to almost a quarter (24 per cent) of men and about one in 20 women (six per cent) having a criminal conviction. The government keeps tabs on the proportion of the population who have a criminal conviction based on data from police and the courts.

The statistics include all so-called "standard list offences", which include all serious crimes tried in crown courts and some others.

The figures give an incomplete picture of how many people have been involved in crime as they only include people brought to justice.

They also do not calculate individuals who have been dealt with by cautions, warnings or other informal methods that have become increasingly popular.