The aims of this survey were: to collect baseline data on health-related behaviours in the general population and to monitor changes over time; to provide a mechanism to inform policy makers and decision takers of up-to-date information on matters of health and behaviour; to allow for the evaluation of health intervention programmes and strategies with regard to the population; to provide a dataset which allows for the investigation of practical, theoretical and methodological issues concerned with health-related behavioural data and health-related behavioural change.