Half of women over the age of 40 say they are relying on their partner's pension and state benefits to pay for their retirement, a survey suggests.
As many as 28% of women in this age bracket said their partner's pension would be their main source of income on retiring, according to insurer Prudential.
A further 22% of women said they would fall back on the state pension and other Government benefits to help them live once they stop working.
Just over a third (35%) of women said they have made, or plan to make, sufficient pension contributions to ensure a private or company scheme will support them.
Despite more than a quarter of women relying on their partner to provide for them during retirement, 34% of these admitted they did not know the details of their other half's pension.
Women currently have far lower retirement incomes than men, receiving an average of £12,200 a year through state and private pensions, compared with £19,600 for men, and the research suggests this gap is set to remain.
Vince Smith-Hughes, head of pensions development at Prudential, said: "Relying on someone else's pension and savings and the meagre amount provided by the state to support you in retirement is an extraordinarily risky strategy."
