Pensions costs to approach half a trillion by 2062
Expenditure on pensions will reach an eye watering £491bn by 2062/63, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
In 2062/63 spending on pensions will have reached 9.4 per cent of GDP. The UK's demographic time bomb is ticking, over five million men and 7.3 million women are already over the state pension age.
The picture becomes even bleaker when one looks at the attitude of UK workers towards pensions. An astonishing fifty seven per cent of workers would prioritise going on holiday over saving for retirement, according to HSBC.
Brits also came top of HSBC's table of the world's worst savers in 2013. Pensions costs have already risen by 25 per cent in the last 17 years.
As costs rise, the number of workers available to pay for the UK's pay-as-you-go pensions systems is diminishing. In 1950 there were seven workers per retiree – by 2025 it will be around two.