A visual planimetric study of atherosclerosis of the aorta and the coronary arteries was conducted in 1571 residents of the city of Ryazan and in 769 inhabitants of the Ryazan region dying in the age of 10 and 69 years, as well as in 627 normal individuals engaged in physical and intellectual work, living in rural and urban settlements, dying in the age of 40 to 69 years (data from Ryazan, Tallinn, Kharkov). A randomized study has demonstrated that urban population displays more distinct atherosclerotic changes in the examined vessels than the rural population displays more distinct atherosclerotic changes in the examined vessels than the rural population. The differences in the severity of coronary atherosclerosis were significant between the compared groups of normal individuals engaged in intellectual activities, and insignificant between the groups of those engaged in physical labour. The severity of aortic atherosclerosis did not show any statistically significant differences between the groups of normal individuals living in urban and rural areas.