In view of the increasing life expectancy andrnadoption of the western life-styles in the city of AddisrnAbaba, it was important to document the prevalence of thernmodifiable risk factors for coronary heart disease in therncommunity so that preventive plans can be worked out.rnThis study is a community-based cross-sectional surveyrnwhich measured the risk factors for coronary heartrndisease among 15-24 years population in Addis Ababa,rn1994 . Thirty c l usters with 52 subjects in each wererntargeted. With the response rate of 92.1%, a tot.al ofrn1,436 adolescents (851 females and 585 males), 15 - 24rnyears of age participated in the study. Structuredrnquestionnaires were administered and selected physicalrnexaminations performed using trained and supervisedrnresearch assistants . Current smokers were 11.8% males andrn1.1% females. About 34% of the respondents consumernalcoholic beverages regularly, but only 7 . 0% of themrntake 100 grams and over alcohol per week. High fatrnintake and sedentary life-styles were registered in 4 . 5%rnand 8.4% of the respondents , respectively. About 6.0% ofrnthe females and 0.7% of t he males were obese. Thernprevalence of elevated diastolic blood pressure was 7.1% .rnAfter adjusting for potential confounders, male sex andrnincreasing age were found to be important determinantsrnfor current smoking and heavy alcohol consumption . Forrnobesity being female and increasing age were the mos'trnimportant determinants. Sedentary lifestyle and high fatrnintake were strongly r e lated to each other. Elevatedrndiastolic blood pressure was strongly associated withrnobes ity . The current prevalence of modi fiable riskrnfactors among the young people are not that l ow and thisrncommunity based study emphasizes the initiation ofrnprimary preventive activities as soon as possible.