Undoped and Nd-doped YVO4 single crystals with various forms of sections up to 10mm in diameter were grown by the EFG (edge-defined film-fed growth) method. Compositional uniformity of the grown crystals was estimated. The segregation coefficient of Nd3+ ions according to initial Nd3+ concentration was measured. The addition of divalent ions to the orthovanadate melt as a way to suppress the creation of additional phases was suggested. The influence of Ca2+ ions on the optical transparency of Nd-YVO4 single crystals was investigated.