Generational inequality: the charts that show parents will always be richer than their children

For the first time since figures began in 2006, people aged 65-74 hold a bigger slice of total household wealth than the under 45s

Young adults already resent paying taxes to fund the pensions of old people who are much better off than they are (Alamy)

Older generations are richer than their children, according to research by the Resolution Foundation. For the first time since figures began in 2006, people aged 65-74 hold a bigger slice of total household wealth than the under 45s.

That's partly because there are increasingly more older people in the UK.

The ratio of older to younger people is increasing, though not as dramatically as in other parts of Europe.

(Resolution Foundation)

People pay in and take out of the welfare state at different points in their lives.

Older people take more out of the welfare state than they contribute.

(Resolution Foundation)

Governments have protected spending on the elderly while other age-groups have suffered benefit cuts.

The pension triple lock already costs £6 billion more a year than if it was tied to a straight earnings link.

(Resolution Foundation)

The number of older people in employment is at record highs, while the number of younger people in employment is at record lows.

Some of this can be accounted for by younger people staying in education longer.

(Resolution Foundation)

Young people in employment are earning around £50 a week less than they would have ten years ago.

(Resolution Foundation)

Most of the UK's £9.4 trillion in wealth is owned by older people in pensions, property and other liquid assets.

(Resolution Foundation)

These factors together have resulted in a "stark generational divide" where young people are worse off then their parents.

Young people are more likely to report financial difficulties.

(Resolution Foundation)

The Resolution Foundation has said that the gap in wealth between the generations is partly caused by house prices recovering much more quickly than wages after the financial crisis.

Real wages took six years to start rising again, while the over 60s were least affected by the pay squeeze. That also helps to explain falling home ownership rates among young adults.

David Willetts, a former Conservative MP and chairman of the Resolution Foundation, has urged the Government to review public spending. He said young adults already resent paying taxes to fund the pensions of old people who are much better off than they are.