The article presents the most relevant data of the world literature on the problem of iodine status. The problem of iodine deficiency still remains unresolved on the territory of the former Soviet Union (the median urinary iodine was 29.1 μg/l in Abkhazia, and almost 30% of the examined had the level of ioduria below standard values in Kazakhstan), although some countries have been successful in dealing with iodine deficiency (the median urinary iodine is 191 μg/l in Belarus, 169 μg/l in Ukraine). On the rest of the Eurasian continent, the picture is also different: among the total mass of countries with normal median urinary iodine, there are territories with both iodine deficiency (the median of ioduria ranges from 80 to 138 μg/l in the UK, the median of ioduria is 63 μg/l in France) and its excessive consumption (the median of ioduria is 330.0 μg/l in China). On the territory of America, in 2016, the elimination of iodine deficiency was announced (the median of ioduria ranged from 123 μg/l (Argentina) to 415 μg/l (Colombia)), and Haiti was the only country with a fixed iodine deficiency – 84 μg/l. Research data from different years in the following regions of the Russian Federation are presented: Moscow (the median of ioduria 67.0 μg/l), St. Petersburg (66.0–86.0 μg/l), Tyumen region (106.9 μg/l), Novosibirsk region (93.0 μg/l), Republic of Bashkortostan (70.3 μg/l), Republic of Dagestan (65.8 μg/l), Kemerovo region (90.0 μg/l), Saratov region (59.0–106.0 μg/l), Tomsk region (94 μg/l), Far Eastern region (58.0–74 μg/l), Chelyabinsk region (92.0–164.5 μg/l), Chuvash Republic (72.0 μg/l), Perm region (100.0 μg/l). Almost throughout the Russian Federation, iodine deficiency of mild severity was noted.