Total membership of occupational pension schemes with two or more members increased last year by 300,000, the Office for National Statistics has reported this morning.

The number was estimated to be 27.9 million in 2013, a figure which has been rising since 1991, when there were 22.2million, though these estimates exclude participation in other workplace (group personal) pensions.
Since directly comparable records began in 2008 there has a been a 200,000 increase in total membership.

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The number of active members, those contributing, or having contributions paid into a scheme, rose slightly from 7.8 million in 2012 to 8.1 million in 2013. There were increases in active membership for both the private and public sector.
Contribution rates to defined benefit schemes (having excluded deficit reduction payments) remained higher than for defined contribution schemes.
For private sector defined benefit schemes, the average contribution rate was 5.2% of pensionable earnings for employees and 15.4% for employers.
For private sector defined contribution schemes, the average contribution rate was 2.9% for members employees and 6.1% for employers.

All graphs provided by the ONS.