PensionBee, a leader in the consumer retirement market, has released its annual Pension Landscape for 2025. Based on analysis of more than 285,000 PensionBee customers as at June 2025, it reveals the substantial differences in average pension pot sizes, depending on a saver’s age, gender and location.

The average UK pension pot now stands at £21,875 in 2025, up 9% from 2024 and comfortably ahead of inflation. Women’s average pots grew by nearly 11% to £16,169, while men’s increased by over 9% to £25,652. This difference in growth accounted for a modest improvement to the gender gap, narrowing from 38% to 37%.

All age groups see improvement

Among the under-30s, average pots grew by almost 5% to £3,745, and the gender gap has narrowed meaningfully from 18% to 13%. In the 30-39 age group, average pots rose 5% to £10,660, with the gender gap falling slightly to 20%. The 40-49 group saw a more modest uplift of just under 2% uplift to £23,312, with the gender gap improving from 25% to 24%. The over-50s saw the largest pot size growth, rising almost 8% to £42,578. But their gender gap remained the widest at 44%, underlining the cumulative effect of decades of unequal saving.

Projected pots at retirement improved for those in their 30s and 40s – up £11,535 and £6,327 respectively to £178,439 and £130,140. However, despite current pot growth, projected retirement pots for under-30s fell by £13,893 to £181,165, explained by dropping weekly incomes.

South East England continues to outperform 

London and the South East continue to outperform the rest of the UK, with average pots of £25,838 and £27,727 respectively, while most other regions lag significantly behind. The North West, for example, had an average pot of £17,082, whilst Northern Ireland had an average pot size of £15,118. 

At 29%, London had a significantly narrower gender pension gap than the UK average. The South East ran a distant second with 38%, while Wales and Northern Ireland had the widest gaps at 43%. 

Lisa Picardo, Chief Business Officer UK at PensionBee, commented: 

"It's encouraging to see both pot growth and a slight narrowing of the gender gap. But progress remains frustratingly slow and the regional disparities are stark. London savers have pots 70% larger than those in Northern Ireland, for example, which reflects broader economic inequalities that follow people into retirement.

“Even more concerning is that under-30s are seeing their projected retirement pots shrink due to falling incomes. This is a worrying warning sign for future generations who may end up heavily reliant on the State Pension.

“Lowering the Auto-Enrolment age threshold would be a simple yet powerful solution. The magic of compound growth makes early contributions incredibly valuable over longer periods. We cannot allow today's contribution gaps to become tomorrow's retirement poverty."