The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has said it underestimated the amount of money that pensioners receive from private pension schemes.
In April, the latest chapter of its publication Pension Trends said pensioner couples received on average £2,115 a year from private pensions.
In fact, the real figure for couples is more than four times larger, at between £9,000 and £10,000 a year.
The ONS blamed a computer programming error and has withdrawn the chapter.
The ONS apologised for the mistake, which had led it to publish a press release entitled "Pensions provide only modest incomes for many".
"A significant error has now come to light, particularly affecting the estimates of private pension income," it said.
"The estimates are being re-calculated and will be published again as soon as possible, once they have been quality assured," it added.
'Isolated error'
The mistake, which seems to have been spotted at the beginning of this week, is highly unusual and also embarrassing.
The ONS is one of the few sources of information about topics such as pensioners' incomes and longevity, pension scheme membership and pension provision.
Pension Trends was first published in 2005 and most of the chapters have been updated since then.
The ONS explained that the basic data for its most recent update had been taken from a Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) survey in 2005/06.
This provided weekly amounts for pensioners' incomes from non-state pensions.
But in calculating the annual income figure, the ONS treated the data as if it were monthly and thus multiplied it only by 12 and not 52.
"We think this is an isolated error, although we are investigating if there is anything wrong with the figures for income from state benefits in the chapter," a spokesman said.
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