Objective — to investigate the physical activity of 25—64-year-old men and women in an open urban population in relation to the social gradient of health. Attitude towards physical activity was studied in the framework of cardiac screening in a representative sample of an open Tyumen population among 25—64-year-old men and women, by applying the WHO standard questionnaire «Knowledge and Attitude towards Their Health». Professional education was assessed by three parameters (higher, secondary, and primary); the nature of work was determined by four parameters (administers; engineers and technicians; manual workers; and unemployed persons); marital status was estimated by two parameters (living or not living with a partner). The investigation showed that women, mostly those with secondary or higher education, had the greatest desire to increase physical activity; however, this opportunity in the women as a whole and in those in the secondary education group is found much less frequently. Depending on the nature of work, the highest physical activity was defined mainly in men from the groups of administers, engineers and technicians, manual workers, and professionals, as well as among unemployed women. Whatever their marital status, women showed high adherence to physical exercises and thus to a healthy lifestyle; however, regular physical training was insufficient regardless of gender and most pronounced among persons who had no life partner. The trend in no leisure time was identified in married women.