Only about two in ten Britons are putting money aside for retirement – a fall by 16% since 2007 – a study on savings trends has discovered.
NS&I's Quarterly Savings Survey found 78% were failing to saving for life after work.
Only 22% reported they are keeping money aside for when they retire, compared to 38% seven years ago.
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Patrick Connolly, head of communications at Chase de Vere, said: "Too many people still don't recognise the need for long-term savings, naively believing the state or their employer will look after them in retirement, while others are simply unable to save more as their household budgets have been squeezed."
Some 28% of the 2,426 Britons polled said that they feel more worried about saving money than they did ten years ago, while 35% feel the same way now about saving money as they did a decade ago.
Only 14% have felt more confident about saving over the course of the decade, but just 5% stated they have started to feel more confident in the last few years. NS&I said this may have had a knock-on effect on the length of time people plan to save for. A fifth save for the short-term as opposed to the long-term as they did ten years previously, whereas 19% continue to save for the long-term.
Overall, people are saving slightly more though, the poll suggested.
Respondents said they are saving 7.76% of their incomes each month, (£98) compared to 6.42% five years ago (£85), while a decade ago, they were saving more of their income each month, but less in monetary terms 6.70% (£82).