AbstractMeasurement of height, weight, skinfold, blood pressure and lipoprotein lipids were carried out as a part of a cardiovascular risk factor survey in Fiji in 1983. Observations were limited to urban and island‐dwelling Melanesians and it was found that, while the urban population was fatter than the island dwellers, their systolic pressures were significantly lower in both men and women. Removal of subjects previously diagnosed as having hypertension in both populations left the island population with higher systolic pressures than the urban group but the difference was no longer significant at the 5 per cent level.Lipoprotein lipids were broadly similar in the two populations with values similar to New Zealand Caucasians. There were no differences in high density lipoprotein cholesterol levels between the two population groups, nor were there differences between men and women.A total of 24 men and women were known cases of coronary heart disease at the time of the survey, a further 47 had symptoms suggestive of the disorde