Brits are well ahead of some of their European counterparts when it comes to planning for their retirement, AXA claims.

According to the firm, the average Briton starts taking financial precautions for their pension at the age of 28, six years younger than the French or Spanish and ten years earlier than the average Hungarian.

Although he said the figures were "encouraging", Steve Folkard, head of pensions and savings policy at AXA, warned that many are still leaving pension planning far too late.

He said: "Young people today think retirement is far off and that pensions are something they do not need to worry about, yet figures do show that the earlier you begin saving the greater then benefits when people hit retirement."

In 2006, there were 11.4 million people of pensionable age, according to Age Concern.

However, the charity predicts this figure will rise to 12.2 million by 2011.

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