They also suggest that few believe claims made by the governments of Hong Kong and China's neighbouring Guangdong province to be tackling the issue.

Some 91 percent of respondents ranked the southern Chinese territory's air quality as "poor" or "very poor", according to the survey commissioned by the South China Morning Post newspaper.

It also found 88 percent had little or no confidence in air quality improving. Nearly half of the respondents believed the territory's pollution would become worse or significantly worse. Pollution has become a key political issue in Hong Kong as smog levels have risen to often dangerous levels. Poor air quality reduced visibility to less than one kilometer (about half a mile) on more than 50 days last year.

While the problem is mostly due to factories across southern China's booming manufacturing centre in Guangdong province, local coal-burning power stations and diesel-powered buses are also major contributors.

The Hong Kong government recently launched an "Action Blue Sky" campaign to persuade citizens to cut down on air conditioner use and slash energy consumption.

While those polled were generally supportive of the government's measures to tackle pollution, only 36 percent said they thought measures were effective.

Although authorities from Hong Kong and Guangdong have agreed to cut emissions of four key types of pollutants by up to 55 percent by 2010, half of the respondents said they believed the targets would not be met.

Business leaders in Hong Kong have called on the government to act against rising pollution or risk losing the territory's status as a major finance hub.

A recent poll said nearly 80 percent of top executives in the city felt Hong Kong's allure was falling, with four out of five saying they knew professionals who had considered leaving or had already left due to the air quality.

Related Links
The Air We Breathe at TerraDaily.com