Epidemiological studies in cardiology often are confronted with the need of modeling the population dependence of the development of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) on a complex of influencing risk factors (RF). A method for assessment the CVD population risk is proposed, the calculation of which assumes the population group as the unit of analysis, and the prevalence of risk factors in this group as the input data. Calculation of the population risk is build taking into account predictive value of risk factors basing on their contribution to CVD prevalence. The method of calculation of population risk, examples of its application (arterial hypertension in working population, ethnic groups, ischemic heart disease in open and working population), as well as discussion of its strong and weak sides are presented in this review.