By Charlotte Beugge

Brits should look east for an example of how to save, new figures from Lloyds TSB suggest. While the typical British family has £5,000 in savings, the average Chinese family has £19,000 squirreled away.

As a result of this comparative lack of prudence, Brits are four times more likely to struggle financially than the Chinese. And it's not only the Chinese who are better at saving than Brits. Germans typically have £10,000 saved, double that of UK families.

In the UK, the amount we save of our disposable income (what's known as the savings ratio) has decreased over the past ten years although since times got tough, it's increased and is now at around 7%. But in Germany, it's been consistently at close to 10% for years.

However, both the UK and Germany look total amateurs at savings compared with the Chinese. At the start of the millennium they had a savings ratio of 27% (so that means they put away more than a quarter of their disposable income) but now that's risen to 47%.

And the difference between the UK and the Chinese savings ratios has never been wider, says Lloyds. Only 3% of Chinese adults have no savings at all compared with 11% of Brits.

With no social security safety net to fall back on, the Chinese know they need to save - whereas in the UK we have a benefits system we hope will help us if we cannot work and have no income.

And Chinese savers are also more likely to juggle their money between a range of banks and other financial institutions. More than half of Chinese with savings also have investments such as shares or funds - a far higher proportion than seen in the UK or Germany.