Bolotana, Sardinia Identified as a New Blue Zones Candidate

Sardinian village had roughly 11 times the U.S. concentration of centenarians in a 2024 snapshot; new study finds exceptional survival among women

MINNEAPOLIS, MN, UNITED STATES, October 5, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Longevity expert and National Geographic Explorer Dan Buettner – an internationally recognized researcher, and New York Times best-selling author – along with an international team of scientists, has identified Bolotana, Sardinia, as a new blue zones candidate. In autumn 2024, approximately six people aged 100 or older* were living in the town of about 2,300 residents, which was roughly 11 times the U.S. prevalence of centenarians, using the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2020 count as the comparison.

A newly published study in Frontiers in Aging provides a deeper finding: women in Bolotana who reach age 70 are estimated to be approximately three times as likely to reach 100 as U.S. women of the same age. National Geographic published an exclusive article about the study today, HERE.

“This is like discovering an ancient tomb with a treasure trove of longevity insights,” said Dan Buettner, the study’s project leader and author. “These are real people whose ages we can verify. Bolotana’s women are reaching 100 at more than three times the U.S. rate. Now we have a chance to learn what is helping them live so long.”

While the longevity advantage in some historically identified blue zones has weakened, Bolotana’s recent results suggest a possible emerging hotspot.

“It is not just the level of longevity in Bolotana that is remarkable, but the degree to which it can be reconstructed from independent historical sources,” said University of Sassari Professor Dr. Gianni Pes, the study's lead scientist. “When civil records, parish archives and family lineages all converge on the same individuals across more than a century, it allows us to rigorously test longevity patterns in a way that is rarely possible in demography.”

The study estimates that 13.8% of women in Bolotana who reach 70 will survive to 100, versus approximately 3.6% of U.S. women, roughly one in seven compared with one in 28. At 70, women in Bolotana were estimated to have nearly 21 years of life remaining. Bolotana also differs from the original Sardinian blue zones region, which is especially known for male longevity. Civil records, parish archives, and family histories allowed scientists to reliably validate birth and death dates in Bolotana and other blue zones, countering recent unsubstantiated claims that centenarians do not exist anywhere in the world because of fraudulent records.

“Sardinia’s meticulous record keeping removed all doubt if blue zones are real,” said Dr. S. Jay Olshansky, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the University of Illinois Chicago and senior author of the study. “The question we now face is not whether blue zones exist, but why they exist and whether we can confer their longevity advantages to others, with an estimated $10 trillion in economic value if we succeed in extending healthy life even by just one year.”

The research team validated the ages of identified centenarians using civil birth records and, where available, independent parish records. In a separate analysis of 3,060 people born in Bolotana from 1900 through 1925, the researchers documented 38 who reached 100. That finding looks beyond the number of centenarians living in the village on a particular date.

“We now know something extraordinary is happening in Bolotana,” Buettner said. “The next step is to understand why and whether the lessons can help people elsewhere live longer, healthier lives.”

Bolotana’s steep, pedestrian-friendly streets, its outsized reverence for family, strong faith traditions, modest wine consumption and a variety of olive oil high in odd-chain fatty acids offer avenues for further study. This research did not establish which, if any, caused the village’s longevity advantage. The team plans to make its demographic database available at no cost to outside researchers once it is ready for distribution. *The scientists have compiled photographs and biographies of Bolatana’s centenarians, which can be found here: https://www.orminas.it/i-centenari/.

About the Study
A New Blue Zone? Exceptional Late-Life Survival in Bolotana, Sardinia was authored by Steven Austad, Hiram Beltrán-Sánchez, Dan Buettner, S. Jay Olshansky, Salvatore Pedde, Giovanni Mario Pes and Vittorio Romerio. Using validated civil and parish records, the team estimated life expectancy at age 70 and the probability of surviving from 70 to 100. The study compared Bolotana with Nuoro Province, Sardinia, Italy and published longevity benchmarks. The authors reported receiving no financial support for the research or its publication.

About Dan Buettner’s Forthcoming Work
Buettner’s The Blue Zones Evolution: 10 New Lessons for Living Your Longest Life in Full Health is scheduled for release January 5, 2027. The book identifies four new longevity hotspots where people live the longest lives in full health and offers insights into how residents extend their health-adjusted life expectancy (HALE), living up to 12 more years in good health than the average American. Buettner's work will also be featured in a forthcoming National Geographic documentary special in January, 2027 and in a National Geographic magazine feature story in December, 2026.

About Blue Zones
Blue Zones helps communities make healthier choices easier through changes to the places where people live, work, learn and gather. Founded by National Geographic Fellow Dan Buettner, the company builds on research into populations with exceptional longevity and applies those insights through community programs and partnerships. Buettner’s books on blue zones have been published by National Geographic, and his Emmy Award-winning documentary series, Live to 100: Secrets of the Blue Zones, premiered on Netflix in 2023. Learn more at www.bluezones.com.

Naomi Imatome Yun
Blue Zones
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