Fewer people in Yorkshire are paying into a pension following the financial crisis, figures show.

Just one in six people in the region – or 18% – were contributing to a defined contribution pension in 2010-12. That’s down from 21% in 2006-08.

People may have chosen to opt-out of making regular payments into a pension fund if they needed more of their wages to pay for essentials.

The average defined contribution fund in Yorkshire and the Humber was £13,300 in 2010-12, with a quarter of people having £6,000 or less and a quarter having £30,400 or more.

Across Britain, just one in six people was contributing to a defined contribution pension in 2010-12 – down from a fifth in 2008-10 and 21% in 2006-8.

The proportion may have fallen due to a combination of contributors retiring and new people not signing up to schemes to replace them in the figures, or others choosing to put their contributions on pause for a time, possibly reflecting a lack of disposable income as wages stagnated but prices rose.

Fewer people in Yorkshire are paying into a pension

On average, people who are currently contributing to a pension have £14,500 in savings, with a quarter having £5,000 or less and a quarter having £37,200.

The average amount in pensions being contributed to has fallen from £15,800 in 2008-10.

Couples under pension age with no children were then most likely to be contributing to a pension in 2010-12, with 28% of these households having a pension to which they were currently contributing. That was followed by couples with dependant children and single people under pension age with no children – both 23%.

Households where members were over state pension age were the least likely to be currently contributing, just 1% of households, followed by 9% of single parents with dependant children.

A defined contribution pension is one where the person pays in a set amount each month, often tax-free, with an employer often matching contributions. The money saved up in the pot is then used to provide a pension on retirement.

This type of pension has generally replaced defined benefit schemes, where the pension amount is based on things such as the person’s previous salary and the number of years they worked for the company.