Workplace pension membership has grown to its highest levels since records started in 1997, with a sharp upswing in young people saving for their future helping to drive the increase.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed that 59% of workers were active members of a pension scheme in 2014, up from 50% the previous year. The latest percentage is the highest since the series began in 1997.

Pension membership increased across all age groups compared with 2013, with the largest increase being in the 20 to 29-year-old age group, where the proportion of pension savers increased by 17 percentage points to 53%.

The ONS's Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings: Pensions Results report said that the general upswing in pension savers is likely to be driven by automatic enrolment.

The Government's auto-enrolment initiative started in October 2012, with people in the largest companies being automatically placed into a workplace pension scheme. The initiative, which is gradually being rolled out to smaller firms, has so far been seen as a success, with a higher than expected rate of nine in 10 people staying in the pension scheme they have been placed in.

Previous studies have also shown that young people in particular have embraced the pensions revolution.

A report released last year by workplace pension scheme Nest found that just one in every 20 workers aged between 22 and 29 is choosing to opt out of the automatic enrolment scheme, compared with a much higher rate of one in four people aged between 60 and 65 who are shunning the initiative.

Automatic enrolment was introduced to help to grow a stronger retirement savings culture amid fears that people are living for longer but not saving enough for a comfortable retirement.

It is part of a package of measures aiming to build confidence in retirement saving, including doing away with high and unnecessary charges while people are saving into a pension and making it easier for people to spend their pension pot on what they want, when they want to.

The latest ONS figures also show that 87% of public sector employees were members of a workplace pension scheme in 2014, up from 85% in 2013.

And nearly half (49%) of private sector employees were in a workplace pension last year, up from just over one third (36%) in 2013.

Pensions Minister Steve Webb said: "Millions more people are now saving into a workplace pension, allowing them to build a decent nest egg to enjoy in their retirement."

Here are the proportions of employees with a workplace pension by region in 2014:

:: North East, 61.8%

:: North West, 58.5%

:: Yorkshire and the Humber, 58.3%

:: East Midlands, 57.2%

:: West Midlands, 57.4%

:: East, 56.3%

:: London, 63.2%

:: South East, 58.6%

:: South West, 56.7%

:: Wales, 61.7%

:: Scotland, 64.0%