This firm has identified how the pound is performing against overseas currencies for the most popular retirement districts. The research is based on 50,000 expats to whom Equiniti administers international pension payments.

According to the data, the majority of pensioners (12%) have retired to countries in the eurozone. An expat who retired in March 2003 with a pension of £5,000 would have received 7,300 Euros but the same pension would now bring in 5,692 Euros. The purchasing power of this fund has fallen by a fifth (22%).

Retirees in Canada with a fund of £5,000 have seen a drop in retirement income of over a third (36%) and in New Zealand expats have faced falls of almost two-fifths (38%.) Meanwhile, those retiring in the United States experienced a slight drop of 8% in their retirement incomes.

The biggest losers are those who moved to Australia, the research finds. They have faced falls from AUD 13,625 to AUD 7,253, a drop of 47%.

However, two countries have seen an increase over the past ten years. Pensioners who retired in Jamaica would have seen an increase in their spending power of 66% as the pound outperformed the Jamaican dollar. And expats who retired in South Africa would have seen a 6% increase.

Keith Boughton, director of Equiniti Paymaster said: “Ten years ago the value of the Sterling was significantly higher than it is today, and those emigrating abroad for their retirement enjoyed considerable value from their pension. A plummeting pound has left many expat pensioners unable to make ends meet and struggling to find other ways to protect the value of their pensions.”