Cash-strapped Britons are saving just 2% of their income

Today's average worker puts aside only 2 per cent of their income, compared with 21 per cent in 1861.

A study to mark the 145th anniversary of the launch of Post Office savings accounts also reveals that one in four Britons saves nothing in 2007, meaning more of us regularly play the National Lottery than try to build funds for a rainy day.

When the accounts were introduced in 1861, 180,000 savers deposited a total of £1.7million in the Post Office's 2,500 branches in the first year.

A general labourer at the time would have earned around £44 a year and saved on average £9.45 - about a fifth of his income and the equivalent to £445.75 in today's money.

In comparison, workers in 2006 saved on average £172.69 of their net income, or 2.1 per cent.

Post Office records reveal fascinating fluctuations in the nation's saving habits over the years.

Britons saved least during the post-war period of 1946 to 1955 when workers, on average, could not afford to deposit even a penny into their savings accounts.

The exception was in 1953 when workers saved on average 0.3 per cent of their income after tax.

The timeline shows that Britons were saving the biggest proportion of their wages, 12.4 per cent, in 1980 - a year of high inflation.

Today's figure of 2.1 per cent - which excludes contributions to pension funds - is the lowest since 1959.

A decade ago it was 6 per cent.

Analysts say that consumers are losing the saving habit because of a combination of low interest rates and the borrowing culture which encourages consumers to spend now and worry about the consequences later.

The trend is being fuelled by the younger generation who carry most of the nation's personal debt and have the least savings.

Two-thirds of the nation's personal-wealth is owned by those aged 55 and over, with the under-35s owning only 9 per cent.

Yet each age group makes up roughly a third of the population.

A decade of low inflation has also contributed as people are more likely to keep their money in their wallets if prices are high.

A survey of 2,000 of today's account holders revealed that a third save infrequently and a quarter save nothing.

This compares with 70 per cent of the population who regularly buy a lottery ticket.

Most (71 per cent) of the infrequent and non-savers said they simply didn't have any spare cash to put aside and 27 per cent said they had too much debt.

Some 17 per cent of non-savers said they preferred to spend their money instead.

The most popular reason for saving is for a holiday, with 29 per cent saying they saved for a summer break.

More than a third of 18-24-yearolds put money away for a deposit to buy a house.

And nearly half of 55 to 64-year-olds put cash away to top up retirement funds.

Fifty-six per cent said they had no particular goal in mind and were simply putting cash away 'for the future'.

Richard Norman, head of savings at the Post Office, said: "It is worrying to see we are now saving less than 40 years ago."

However, he said he hoped to see an increase in deposits over the next few months as a result of relatively high interest rates.

The Conservatives blamed Gordon Brown's economic policies as chancellor for contributing to the decline in savings.

The party's Treasury spokesman Philip Hammond said: "Gordon Brown has wrecked the culture of long-term saving in this country.

"On his watch, the savings ratio has plummeted to its lowest level for nearly 50 years while personal debt has soared to over £1trillion."