Analysis by economic activity status indicates that men who were economically active were more likely than men who were economically inactive to smoke; 31% and 23% respectively did so. This finding holds true for all socio-economic groups, but is largely explained by the lower prevalence of smoking among men aged 60 and over, who form the majority of economically inactive men.

Among women, however, prevalence was highest among those aged 16 to 59 who were economically inactive, 34% of whom were smokers, compared with 28% of economically active women, and only 15% of women aged 60 and over who were economically inactive. Women aged less than 16 to 59 whose current job or most recent job had been an unskilled manual one had the highest prevalence of cigarette smoking at 45% and 46% respectively.