The millennial generation has “unrealistic” expectations of their retirement prospects, according to a new report by HSBC.

The bank’s latest international survey in a series on the future of retirement found that millennials, those born between 1980 and 1997, on average expect to retire younger than other working age generations.

They expect to quit working at 59, two years younger than the working age average of 61, while only 10 per cent of millennials expect to work after 65, even though their generation faces unprecedented financial pressures and state retirement ages continue to rise around the world.

Renee Bullock-Cann, head of HSBC Bermuda’s retail banking wealth management, said: “HSBC continues to invest in research on the important topic of retirement which touches all of our lives at different times and in multiple ways.

“Taking into account Bermuda’s ageing population and the global economic factors that continue to affect our island, it is becoming more and more critical that all of us, not just the millennial segment of our population, take retirement planning seriously to offset these factors as best as possible.

“Starting to save early and saving enough can reduce the need to have to continue working in later life.”

Charlie Nunn, HSBC group head of wealth management, added: “While millennials are broadly aware of the economic and demographic challenges they face, they do not appear to have grasped the full implications for their retirement.

“With low interest rates, rising healthcare costs and potentially less state support for retired people in the future, it has never been more important to save for a comfortable retirement.”

The report said that millennials are seen as having the worst retirement prospects of any generation, with just 10 per cent of people around the world believing that the group is in the best position to have a comfortable retirement.

A total of 42 per cent said the post-war baby boomer generation were seen as best placed for retirement.

In addition, 53 per cent of people said that millennials had experienced a period of weaker economic growth than previous generations, while 58 per cent believed that age group was paying for the economic consequences created by older generations like the global financial crisis and rising national debt.

But 54 per cent of people surveyed said that millennials do not know how lucky they are and that they enjoy a better quality of live than any previous generation, while 60 per cent believed that millennials will have more flexibility in retirement, with more opportunities to semi-retire and continue to do some work to support themselves.

The survey also found that, despite millennials’ unrealistic expectations, more than two-thirds of them had already started to save for retirement, starting aged 26 on average.

Millennials were also more likely to take investment risks to boost their retirement pot, with 39 per cent listed as “very willing” to make risky investments, compared to 22 per cent of baby boomers and 33 per cent of Generation X, the group born after the mid-1960s.

And a total of 65 per cent of millennials were prepared to cut back expenses to save, compared to 54 per cent of baby boomers and 59 per cent of Generation X.

More than half of millennials said they moved money around to get the best returns and deals, compared to 39 per cent of baby boomers and 45 per cent of Generation X.

The survey canvassed nearly 18,500 people in 16 countries and territories around the world as part of HSBC’s “Shifting Sands” series of reports on the future of retirement.