Friends Provident have carried out a special survey marking the centenary of the UK state pension.
There is widespread popular support for a big increase being made to the current state pension.
A poll from Friends Provident, an insurer, found that both retirees and those currently saving for their retirement felt that over-65s needed a monthly income of £832 in order to be "comfortable". This is £439 more than the state pension offers.
Moreover, the poll showed that almost six in ten (57 percent) of UK adults planned to either wholly or partly fund their retirement through the state pension - rather than relying on a private or workplace pension plan instead. Allied to this was the finding that just one in ten were willing to invest a "sizeable portion" of their current income into retirement savings - half the amount that were willing to make cutbacks when they were a pensioner rather than spend less today.
The state pension was first introduced in the UK in 1909 - and Friends Provident conducted the poll in part to memorialise this 100-year anniversary.
Martin Palmer, head of corporate pensions marketing at Friends Provident, commented: "A lot has changed in 100 years. When the state pension was first paid in 1909, those people who qualified for it would have been delighted at the extra support it gave them in their retirement. Today, even though it is a universal benefit, paid at an earlier age, and worth more in real terms than in 1909, many people feel it is an inadequate benefit, insufficient for their needs.
"Thankfully these days there is much wider access to private pensions which can provide real financial support in retirement. It is therefore very worrying that so many people haven't taken up this option and are relying on the state pension alone to fund their retirement."
