In the municipality which has just over 2 thousand inhabitants, 10 are over 100 years old. And the driving force is above all women, with a life expectancy higher than the national average
A new village of centenarians has been discovered in Sardinia. This is Bolotana, a municipality with 2000 inhabitants in the province of Nuoro whose women have a longevity that is extraordinarily superior to the norm. According to an international study involving, among others, the University of Sassari and the University of Illinois in Chicago published in the journal Frontiers in Aging, in fact, female people over the age of 70 in this small country are three times more likely to reach 100 than the national average.
Numbers growing and above average
In 2024 there were 6 centenarians in Bolotana out of a population of just over 2,000 inhabitants, now there are 10 out of a population of 2,262 people. The analysis of data contained in the municipal registry office and parish registers allowed the team to map the population for an entire century and confirm that the average life expectancy in the country is higher than in the rest of Italy. Once the calculations have been made, this is approximately 442 centenarians for every 100 thousand residents, a figure 10 times higher than the Sardinian average and 11 times higher than the US average.
A figure driven by women
It is women, however, who have extraordinary values: once they reach 70 they have an average life expectancy of another 21 years. Furthermore, those who reach 70 have a 13.8% chance of reaching 100. The Italian average is around 3.5%.
These data, according to researchers' estimates, place the women of Bolotana immediately behind those of Hong Kong in the ranking of female longevity in the world. “We think this is the longest-lived female population in the world, or nearly so,” one of the study's authors, S. Jay Olshansky, said in a statement.
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Sardinia, land of centenarians
Sardinia has been among the places of interest for those involved in longevity studies for at least twenty years. About fifteen municipalities between Barbagia and Ogliastra have rightfully entered the so-called 'Blue zones', those areas of the world with record life expectancy values. Now Bolotana could also rightly claim inclusion in the list. "According to some parameters, Bolotana is the most extraordinary 'blue zone' - Dan Buettner, National Geographic Explorer and expert in the field, stated in an interview reported on the National Geographic website -. While the other blue zones are decreasing, this one is growing. In other words, every year there are more and more centenarians".
The studies continue
The authors of the study are however cautious and want to exclude the hypothesis that the trend found could be the result of a statistical fluctuation in recent years. Among the factors that could lead to this anomalous longevity, there could be genetics, physical activity mainly due to walking along the streets of the village, a poor diet made up of mainly plant-based foods grown locally and a solid community in which social isolation does not exist. “If we can identify the characteristics underlying this longevity and help people adopt them, the rest of the world can also benefit from understanding the values practiced by these communities,” Olshansky said.
