People live the longest in a handful of countries and territories in East Asia and parts of the Mediterranean, with Hong Kong and Japan consistently topping global rankings. Hong Kong recently overtook Japan for the highest life expectancy, with women living to an average of 87.3 years and men to 81.3. But national averages only tell part of the story. Five specific communities around the world, known as Blue Zones, produce unusually high concentrations of people who live past 100.
The Five Blue Zones
Researcher Dan Buettner identified five regions where people routinely live decades longer than the global average. Each has a distinct culture, but they share overlapping habits that appear to slow aging:
- Sardinia, Italy: A community of shepherds in the island’s mountainous interior who walk five or more miles a day over rugged terrain as part of their daily work.
- Okinawa, Japan: A subtropical island chain where residents form lifelong social support groups called moai that provide emotional and financial security from childhood into their 100s.
- Loma Linda, California: A community of Seventh-day Adventists who follow a largely plant-based diet built around leafy greens, nuts, and legumes.
- Nicoya, Costa Rica: A peninsula where strong faith, close family bonds, and a culturally embedded sense of purpose (called plan de vida) keep elders active and optimistic.
- Ikaria, Greece: A mountainous island in the Aegean Sea where afternoon napping is routine. Regular nappers have up to 35% lower chances of dying from heart disease.
What People in These Regions Eat
The single biggest dietary pattern across all five Blue Zones is a heavy reliance on plants. Meals center on whole grains, legumes, fruits, and vegetables, with animal products playing a supporting role rather than starring on the plate. In Sardinia, goat and sheep cheese appear alongside foraged vegetables and beans. In Okinawa, sweet potatoes and soy products dominate. Loma Linda’s Adventist community follows a primarily vegetarian diet rooted in scripture.
None of these communities are strictly vegan. Centenarians in the studied populations typically ate dairy one to three times a day and meat three to five times a week, with about a quarter eating meat daily. The key difference from a typical Western diet is portion size and frequency: meat is a small side, not the centerpiece, and processed foods are virtually absent. Fish shows up regularly in the Mediterranean and Okinawan diets, and fermented dairy (like yogurt and aged cheese) is more common than fresh milk. The overall pattern resembles what nutritionists call a Mediterranean diet, which balances fish, lean proteins, and eggs with large quantities of vegetables, fruits, legumes, and whole grains at every meal.
Movement Without Exercise
People in Blue Zones don’t go to gyms. Their physical activity comes from how they live. Sardinian shepherds cover miles of mountainous terrain on foot every day. In Ikaria, daily farming and walking over uneven, hilly ground keeps older residents physically active well into their 90s. Homes on the island are scattered, and nearly every household has a garden or land to cultivate, which means bending, lifting, and walking are built into ordinary life.
This kind of constant, low-intensity movement burns calories and strengthens the cardiovascular system without the joint stress or motivation hurdles of formal exercise. It also appears to be more sustainable over a lifetime. When your daily routine requires you to move, you don’t stop at age 65 because you canceled a gym membership.
Social Bonds and Sense of Purpose
Loneliness can shorten life expectancy by as much as eight years. The longest-lived populations have built cultural systems that prevent isolation. Okinawa’s moai tradition is the clearest example: small groups of friends meet daily or several times a week to share gossip, advice, and financial support. One member described it simply: “If you get sick or a spouse dies or if you run out of money, we know someone will step in and help. It’s much easier to go through life knowing there is a safety net.”
The health payoff of these connections is measurable. Each close, happy friend you add to your social network increases your own happiness by roughly 15%. Older adults without close friendships face higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, depression, and stroke. Okinawan women live an average of eight years longer than American women, and their moai tradition is considered a major reason why.
Purpose matters too. In Nicoya, the concept of plan de vida gives elders a reason to get up each morning. In Okinawa, a similar concept called ikigai translates loosely to “the reason you wake up.” Having a clear sense of why you’re alive correlates with staying active, maintaining social connections, and managing stress, all of which feed back into longer life.
How Much Is Genetics?
Research published in Nature estimates that roughly half of lifespan is heritable. That’s a higher figure than some older studies suggested, but it still means the other half comes from environment, behavior, and choice. The Blue Zones are proof of this: these communities don’t share a single genetic lineage. What they share are lifestyle patterns. Sardinian shepherds, Japanese islanders, Costa Rican farmers, Greek villagers, and Californian Adventists have little in common genetically, yet they all produce centenarians at rates far above their national averages.
This is encouraging because it means the habits that drive longevity are adoptable. You don’t need to be born in Okinawa to eat more plants, walk daily, nurture close friendships, and find a sense of purpose. The genetic hand you’re dealt sets a range, and how you live determines where in that range you land.
The Role of Healthcare Systems
Countries with the highest life expectancies also tend to have healthcare systems designed around prevention rather than crisis response. Singapore, which ranks among the longest-lived nations globally, recently overhauled its approach to aging. Its CareShield Life program, launched in 2019, replaced an older optional insurance scheme with a compulsory plan for everyone over 30, regardless of preexisting conditions. Benefits have no time cap and increase over time to keep pace with inflation and rising care needs. A supplementary program called ElderFund covers premiums for people who can’t afford them.
Singapore also invested roughly 3 billion Singapore dollars in its Action Plan for Successful Ageing, a national blueprint developed after a year of public consultation. A separate initiative called Healthier SG focuses specifically on preventing illness before it starts, shifting the system’s center of gravity from hospitals to community health. These structural investments don’t just treat disease. They create conditions where people stay healthier longer.
What Ikaria Reveals About Environment
Ikaria offers a fascinating case study in how geography itself shapes health. The island is mountainous, so simply getting around requires physical effort. Houses are scattered rather than clustered in villages, a pattern rare in the rest of Greece, which means residents walk uneven terrain regularly and maintain their own gardens. The northwestern part of the island, where longevity rates are highest, sits at higher elevation with more rugged landscape.
The island also has an unusual feature: radioactive hot springs that flow into the sea along its southeastern coast. Residents and swimmers are exposed to levels of natural radiation well above average, though below thresholds known to cause cancer. Whether this low-level radiation exposure has any biological effect on aging remains an open question, but it adds to the picture of a place where the physical environment differs meaningfully from the mainland. Combined with the Mediterranean diet, daily physical labor, strong social ties, and a culture that values afternoon rest, Ikaria’s geography creates a setting where long life isn’t a goal people pursue. It’s a byproduct of how they live.