BRITONS are saving only 5.6 per cent of their income, nearly a third less than the average in the past 40 years according to Halifax Financial Services.
This is well down on the high of 12.4 per cent of income saved in 1980, but is still slightly better than a low of only 4.9 per cent of take-home pay saved in 1988 and 1999.
Britons are also setting aside about a third less than the average of 7.9 per cent of income that has been saved since 1963.
Halifax said savings were highest in 1980 and 1992 when the economy was in recession and unemployment was high, while periods of economic buoyancy such as during the late 1980s and around the Millennium have seen people reduce the amount they set aside.
Halifax, which studied data from the Office of National Statistics, found there had been three cyclical lows over the past 40 years - in 1971, 1988 and 1999.
There have also been two peaks in saving levels, in 1980 and in 1992.
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