This study examined cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors, i.e., obesity, blood pressures, and serum lipoproteins and apoproteins, in relation to sociocultural characteristics in two rural-urban migrant populations (n = 173 adult males and females) in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea. Tari migrants from the highlands and Balopa migrants from the islands differ genetically. More importantly, the lifestyle of the latter is more Westernized than that of the former in both Port Moresby and their homelands. The results demonstrate that CVD risk factors vary markedly among the origin/sex groups and that the length of stay in Port Moresby on CVD risk factors was significant only in Balopa males, most of whom had professional or skilled full-time jobs and were considered to have more stress. This study identified different CVD risk factors in the migrant groups: obesity or fatness for the Balopa migrants, and serum lipoproteins and apoproteins, particularly lipoprotein(a), for the Tari migrants. Am. J. Hum. Biol. 12:655-664, 2000. Copyright 2000 Wiley-Liss, Inc.