Across Asia Pacific, a significant number of Asians do not feel very well prepared for retirement, according to HSBC's new Future of Retirement survey. Nine in 10 respondents in South Korea (98%), Japan (97%), mainland China (91%), Singapore (91%) and Hong Kong (89%) say they have had little or no retirement planning and do not know what their retirement income looks like. Only India scored below the global norm of 87%, with 58% of respondents saying that they do not feel prepared.

Mr David Fried, Group General Manager and Regional Head for Insurance Asia-Pacific of Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, said: "While Asia is a region of high savings ratios, in some cases in excess of 20% of GDP, our pension assets are small – comprising around 5% of India's GDP and as low as 1% in mainland China. A pensions 'perfect storm' looms for the unprepared in Asia especially since Asia, while resilient, is not immune to the current economic downturn."

The survey also asked about what people think governments should do to support ageing populations in these key markets. Compared to people in the US, Canada, France and the UK who would like their governments to encourage private saving through tax relief, people in South Korea (52%), Singapore (45%), Japan (28%), Hong Kong (25%), India (23%) and mainland China (15%) prefer to see their governments extend the retirement age over increasing private savings through tax relief.

Mr Fried said: "The roles of governments and employers in pension reform are evolving to increasingly become facilitators - helping individuals save for retirement. As social security systems struggle to cope with the challenges of fast-ageing societies in Asia, there will be a greater reliance on families and individuals to fund their own retirement needs."

The largest exercise of its kind, HSBC's Future of Retirement survey questioned 15,000 people in 15 countries and territories, including Hong Kong, India, Japan, mainland China, Singapore and South Korea.