🔎 Definition & Origin
- The term “Blue Zones” was popularised by Dan Buettner in the early 2000s, working with National Geographic. Blue Zones
- The starting point: a demographer (Michel Poulain) and colleagues identified in 2004 the mountainous region of Sardinia, Italy, as having unusually high longevity (a high concentration of centenarians) by drawing a “blue circle” on the map. Blue Zones Project
- Buettner and his team then travelled to multiple regions around the world to identify where people both lived longer (many in their 90s-100s) and did so in relative health. Blue Zones
- In these five original regions, people were reaching age 100 at much higher rates than typical—and with lower rates of chronic disease compared to many other places. Blue Zones Project
The Five Original Blue Zones
- Okinawa, Japan — renowned for its high ratio of centenarians and long-lived women.
- Sardinia, Italy — especially a cluster of villages in the Nuoro province where male longevity is very high.
- Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica — with lower midlife mortality and strong family networks.
- Ikaria, Greece — “island where people forget to die”, has very low rates of dementia and cardiovascular disease.
- Loma Linda, California (USA) — community of Seventh-day Adventists notable for longevity tied to lifestyle.
Each region is geographically and culturally distinct, but the research found overlap in lifestyle practices. Harvard Health