The average retirement age has risen to 65 years for men and 62 years for women, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The Pension Trends report observes the number of older people in the UK compared to the number of people of working age, showing the effect of changes to the state pension.

Men work a minimum three years longer than women, peak ages for men retiring are between 64 and 66 while for women the peak age is between 59 and 62.

There were also questions not just over life expectancy, but over whether people will able to enjoy their retirement in good health.

Men are averaged to have almost 10 years of healthy life ahead of them at retirement compared to women who had 11.5 years of healthy life expectancy.

This compares to a total male life expectancy of 18 years and 20 years for women.

“As the time spent in retirement increases proportionately, the need to save and invest for this period becomes even more important. Having a healthy risk appetite at the early stages of saving is vital, so people can take some of the risk off the table as they grow nearer to retirement.”Mike Morrison, head of pensions development at AXA Wealth, said: “These ONS figures confirm the widespread belief that people are indeed retiring later and we expect this to rise as the state pension age moves upwards.

The next Pension Trends report will be published on 26 July 2012.