The figures, revealed in a parliamentary answer to the Liberal Democrats, show that 1.09 million DNA profiles of under-18s were held on the database with 337,000 under 16.
Campaigners claim as many as half of them have no criminal convictions and are calling for details to be removed.
Terri Dowty, director of Action on Rights for Children, said: "We have got huge concerns about the number of children on the database because there are a significant number who are innocent.
"It should be for courts to decide at sentence which offences are so serious and which offenders are so dangerous that DNA should be retained."
Almost everyone arrested for a recordable offence is required to provide a DNA sample regardless of whether criminal proceedings follow.
Records currently stay on file until a person reaches their 100th birthday.
The Lib Dems' home affairs spokesman, Chris Huhne, said: "It is unacceptable to keep the DNA of children on record in perpetuity for the most minor of offences. Unless convicted of a sexual or violent offence, under-16s should not have their DNA stored on the database."
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