One in six people (16%) planning to retire this year will depend on the State Pension to fund their retirement as they have no other pension, research from Prudential shows.
The figures come from Prudential's Class of 2012 research, which provides insights into the financial expectations of Britons planning to retire this year.
Women are more than twice as likely as men to have no pension – 20% of women retiring in 2012 will depend on the State Pension compared with just 8% of men.
The average person planning to retire this year will look to the State for 34% of their income, with State Pension payments set to rise to £107.45 a week for single people next month. Company pensions (35%) and a mixture of savings, investments and personal pension savings (30%) will make up the remainder of an average person's retirement income.
The Prudential research also shows that one quarter (26%) of people retiring this year either overestimate by more than £500 a year what the State Pension pays, or simply do not know.
Vince Smith-Hughes, retirement income expert at Prudential, said: "While the State Pension is a safety net for pensioners in the UK, it should only ever be regarded as part of an overall retirement plan.
"For far too many people, the State Pension has become the default income option in retirement. Even those who have some private provision depend so heavily on the State that it makes up a third of their retirement income."
He added: "If people want to maintain their standard of living in retirement it is important that they start to save as much as possible as early as possible, and the vast majority should join company pension schemes where possible. Seeking early advice from a financial adviser should also be a prerequisite to helping people achieve the level of retirement income they want and need."
Regionally, people retiring this year in the Midlands are the most likely in the UK to rely on the State Pension (40%). This compares with a quarter (28%) of those in Scotland, who claim that they will be the least reliant on the state for their retirement income.
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