Researchers who surveyed children aged five to nine years in the Cambridgeshire area say the findings should help education, health and social services prepare for the future.
Their figures confirm that one percent of primary school aged children currently have an existing diagnosis of autism, but also suggest that there may be many more currently undiagnosed and in need of support.
The National Autistic Society has called for the research to be replicated more widely, to confirm the figures on a national level.
The research team, led by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen at the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, used three different methods to estimate the prevalence of autism-spectrum conditions in children attending 79 schools in and around Cambridge.
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