Objective. To show whether, in ecological terms, three lifestyle behaviors explain the different mortality rates from some cardiovascular diseases (CVD) across the 16 cohorts of the Seven Countries Study of Cardiovascular Diseases (SCS) in a 50-year follow-up. Material and Methods. Dietary habits, smoking habits, and habitual physical activity were converted into Dietary, Smoking and Physical Activity Scores using Principal Components Analysis (PCA). Then the three scores were compacted in a single Behavior Score using PCA again. End-points were mortality from coronary heart disease (CHD), Heart Diseases of Uncertain Etiology (HDUE) and Stroke. Moreover, total cardiovascular diseases (CVD) made by CHD+HDUE+Stroke were also considered. Results. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed that Dietary Score was directly and significantly related with CHD and to a lesser extent with CVD. HDUE and Stroke were not associated with any possible determinant and partly in a non-significant negative way. Physical Activity and Smoker Scores were not significantly associated with any end-point. The overall Behavior Score explained significantly the differences of CHD across cohorts. The overall Behavior Score was directly related with CHD and inversely related to Stroke in significant ways. Conclusions. Dietary habits are the only behavior that explains differences of CHD and partly of CVD across the 16 cohorts of the SCS since the variance of the other behaviors were not large enough to contribute.