The UK government is ambitious and confident. It hopes after the ban on smoking in public places comes into effect from July 1, the number of smokers in the country would come down dramatically, by as much as 600,000.

But anti-smoking campaigners are not so sure.

"The affluent in their smoke-free pubs and restaurants are likely to forget that, for most disadvantaged people, rates of smoking are still very high," says Deborah Arnott, director of Action on Smoking and Health (Ash). "Among the most deprived groups, three out of four families still smoke. It is the greatest single factor in the difference in life expectancy between the social classes."

The percentage of men who die under 70 ranges from 22% in the highest social class to 48% in the lowest social class, and around half this disparity is accounted for by higher smoking rates. In 2005, 32% of men and 29% of women in routine and manual occupations smoked, compared to 18% of men and 16% of women in managerial and professional occupations. The government hopes to reduce smoking to 21% among adults by 2010 and 26% in manual occupation groups. But with more resistance among lower socio-economic groups to quitting, this seems unlikely.

Ash has produced a map of England that shows the link between smoking and poor areas. Smoking rates vary from 52% in the most deprived ward in Knowsley, Merseyside, to just 12% in the least deprived ward in Rushcliffe, Nottinghamshire.