Today's young people the most financially-pressured in history.

Apparently today's 25-year-olds need to be earning 55 per cent more to live the kind of lifestyle their parents took for granted. They would need to earn 74 per cent more for houses to be as affordable as they were when their parents were the same age. As a result, Britain's heavily indebted young people are having to delay key milestones on the road to adulthood, or put them off completely.

Young Britons need to earn 55 per cent more if they are to live the lifestyle their parents took for granted at their age, new research reveals. The study from first direct reveals the average Briton in their mid-20s would need an annual salary of £39,720 to buy a house, pay for a wedding and have their first child – all milestones their parents’ generation had passed at that age. This far outstrips current average earnings of £25,500 by some £14,000, or 55 per cent.

These financial pressures are forcing Britain’s youth to delay key life stages. Whereas three in 10 of their parents were married and on the property ladder by 25, money worries mean the average young Briton today does not expect to pass these milestones until their mid-30s.

And far from living a carefree existence, more than three in five young Britons admit money worries are preventing them from making the most of their youth.

Three quarters of Brits think today’s young people are the most financially pressured in history.

Those aged under 25 have an average of £11,467 debt from their university days. One in three  admit that they need to borrow more just to make ends meet – the under-25s’ most common reason to get into debt.

You have to wonder, what will a similar study show five years from now, when the first crop of students paying the increased university fees have graduated with record debts?