Educational levels can affect the prevalence and time course of changes in behavioral risk factors, such as smoking, excessive alcohol consumption (AC), for major chronic non-communicable diseases. Objective — to study the time course of changes in susceptibility to smoking or AC in relation to the level of education according to the results of a 17-year prospective cohort study. Material and methods. A two-stage prospective cohort study was conducted using a sample of the unorganized population of Tomsk at a 17-year interval. A total of 1088 people (384 men and 704 women) aged 20—59 years were surveyed. Smoking and the frequency of AC were studied in the lower secondary, secondary, and higher education groups. Results. Individuals with secondary education were found to be more susceptible to tobacco smoking (p<0.05). Males with higher education smoked 1.8 times less often than those with secondary education (p<0.001) and 1.7 times less frequently than those with lower secondary education (p<0.05). In women with secondary education, the frequency of smoking increased 2.2-fold over time (p<0.001). By the second stage, the proportion of female smokers with secondary education was 1.5 times higher than the proportion of those with higher education (p<0.001) and 1.3 times higher than that of those with lower secondary education (p<0.05). The results of the 17-year study showed a higher proportion of persons with frequent AC in all different education groups among both men and women. Frequent AS in males with lower secondary education most was noted to most considerably increase by 12.8 times; (p<0.001), and that in females with higher and secondary education increased by 38.2 times (p<0.001) and 26.3 times (p<0.001), respectively. Conclusion. The 17-year prospective cohort study indicated a relationship of the prevalence and time course of changes in behavioral risk factors (smoking, alcohol consumption) to educational level.