MACAO -- Some 72.3 percent of the respondents said they back a total ban on smoking in Macao's public sites, a survey showed here on Wednesday.

Around 50 percent of the 1,012 respondents dubbed smoking in public places "very serious" or "serious," according to the telephone survey, conducted by the University of Macao (UMAC).

Some 60 percent of the respondents believe to have suffered from health problems because of "the second-hand smoking," according to the UMAC survey.

Some 25.2 percent of the male respondents and 6.9 percent of the female respondents identified themselves as smokers, the survey said.

The rising number of smokers has been raising the public concern in Macao, a region with a population of 480,000.