Who joined the debate?

The main means of response was via the online survey on the Big Smoke Debate website:
96% of respondents replied via this method, 4% responded via the freephone telephone
Of the 39,288 responses, 34,446 were from people who live and/or work in London

Profile of respondents

The vast majority (62%) of respondents to the Big Smoke Debate both lived and worked in London. Eleven per cent lived in London but did not work in London, and 15% of respondents worked in London but did not live there. A further 12% were responses from people who neither live nor work in London. There were very few differences between Londoners' responses and people from elsewhere.

The proportion of respondents who were male and female was equal (50% male and 50% female).

More than two thirds (67%) of respondents were aged 25-44.

Smoking status of respondents

The proportion of respondents who described themselves as a current smoker (23%) was lower than would be predicted for London as a whole. Research conducted in 2001 indicated that 29% of people in London are current smokers.

Ethnicity of respondents

Over four-fifths (88%) of respondents described themselves as White. Three per cent described themselves as Black or Black British, 4% as Asian or Asian British and 2% as mixed race.

A further 1% described themselves as Chinese.