NS&I's Quarterly Savings Survey found 78% were failing to saving for life after work.
Only 22% reported they are keeping money aside for when they retire, compared to 38% seven years ago.
Patrick Connolly, head of communications at Chase de Vere, said: "Too many people still don't recognise the need for long-term savings, naively believing the state or their employer will look after them in retirement, while others are simply unable to save more as their household budgets have been squeezed."
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Some 28% of the 2,426 Britons polled said that they feel more worried about saving money than they did ten years ago, while 35% feel the same way now about saving money as they did a decade ago.
Only 14% have felt more confident about saving over the course of the decade, but just 5% stated they have started to feel more confident in the last few years. NS&I said this may have had a knock-on effect on the length of time people plan to save for. A fifth save for the short-term as opposed to the long-term as they did ten years previously, whereas 19% continue to save for the long-term.
Overall, people are saving slightly more though, the poll suggested.
Respondents said they are saving 7.76% of their incomes each month, (£98) compared to 6.42% five years ago (£85), while a decade ago, they were saving more of their income each month, but less in monetary terms 6.70% (£82).