The proportion of young people from the poorest fifth of homes graduating from university increased by 12 percentage points between 1981 and 2013, growing from 6 to 18 per cent over the period. The graduation rate for young people from the richest fifth of homes meanwhile went up from 20 per cent to 55 per cent. Nearly twenty-five years on, the graduation rate for those from the poorest families has still to exceed the rate for those from the richest families in 1981.
