(Yicai Global) Sept. 20 -- Chinese adults aged 18 to 34 are increasingly aware of the need to save money for the early retirement they covet, but nearly half of them are failing to put money by for the years after work, according to the findings of a new survey.

Half aim to give up work aged 55 years and 10 months on average, down from 57 years and seven months last year, according to the research jointly carried out by Fidelity International and Ant Financial Services Group's wealth management platform Ant Fortune. The retirement age for men in China is 60, while blue-collar women workers can retire as early as 50.

Nearly 80 percent of the 50,000 respondents have thought about allocating money for retirement, up from last year's 65 percent. But just 48 percent of them have started doing so. Still, that figure is a gain on last year's 44 percent. The average saved each month is CNY994 (USD140).

The survey showed that women have higher savings targets than men, though about 60 percent of them have not yet taken action to fulfill their goals. 

Different age groups have different views on whether the state pension is enough. More than half of those aged over 35 expect government pensions to be their main source of income in retirement, while those aged between 18 and 34 expect to need a combination of savings and state pension.

Editor: Emmi Laine