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Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →The village is Bolotana, a small mountain municipality in Sardinia, Italy. A 2026 demographic study estimates that women there who have reached age 70 can expect about 20.85 more years of life, and that about 13.83% of them go on to reach age 100. The authors describe Bolotana as a candidate longevity Blue Zone, not an established one. The estimates also change noticeably depending on which years are analysed, and the study does not explain why the pattern exists.
What the study measured
The paper, “A new blue zone? exceptional late-life survival in Bolotana, Sardinia,” by Giovanni Mario Pes and co-authors, was published in Frontiers in Aging on 5 October 2026. It is a life-table study. The authors built sex-specific partial period life tables from validated civil and parish records, using deaths and person-years of exposure at age 70 and older during 2021–2025.
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The study reports two main measures:
- Remaining life expectancy at age 70: the average number of additional years a person who has reached 70 can expect to live, under the death rates observed in the period.
- Conditional survival from age 70 to exact age 100: the share of people alive at 70 who go on to reach 100, under the same period rates.
Both are period measures. They describe the mortality conditions of a window of years, not the lived histories of particular individuals.
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How many people the estimates rest on
The population is very small. The study population averaged 2,266 residents over 2021–2025. The primary analysis covered 3,138 person-years of exposure at age 70 and older, of which 1,218 were men and 1,920 were women, and 149 deaths in that age range. Only 19 residents reached age 100 during the period, and six of them were still alive at the end of follow-up. Estimates at the oldest ages therefore rest on small counts, and the authors flag this themselves.
The numbers for women
The headline figures are for women in Bolotana in 2021–2025. The study’s comparison values are arithmetic means of annual official reference estimates for the same period. The authors present these as descriptive comparisons, not as formal statistical tests between populations.
| Measure (women, 2021–2025) | Bolotana | Nuoro Province | Sardinia | Italy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Remaining life expectancy at 70 (years) | 20.85 (95% CI 19.42–22.43) | 18.61 | 18.40 | 18.06 |
| Survival from 70 to 100 (%) | 13.83 (95% CI 7.33–23.75) | 4.33 | 4.43 | 3.54 |
The reference columns are the reported means for Nuoro Province, Sardinia and Italy. Bolotana’s column is the study’s own estimate, with its interval. The reference columns carry no interval in the study’s summary, so they should not be read as measured with the same precision.
Rank #2
Why the 70-to-100 figure is unstable
The most striking result is also the least stable. When the authors re-ran the analysis on the period-matched window of 2015–2019, the picture for Bolotana women changed sharply:
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|---|---|---|
| 2015–2019 (sensitivity analysis) | 18.30 years | 1.46% (95% CI 0.33–5.63) |
| 2021–2025 (primary analysis) | 20.85 years (95% CI 19.42–22.43) | 13.83% (95% CI 7.33–23.75) |
The two survival intervals do not overlap. Including 2020 in an alternative window modestly reduced the 2021–2025 estimates. The authors conclude that the size of the apparent advantage depends on the period studied, and that longer observation is needed before the pattern can be treated as stable. For most readers, the practical takeaway is that the 13.83% figure describes 2021–2025 and should not be quoted as a fixed property of the village.
Rank #3
How Bolotana compares with the original Sardinian Blue Zone
The study also sets Bolotana against the original Sardinian Blue Zone, a historical benchmark built from 14 municipalities in 2015–2019. Those estimates come from a different period from the 2021–2025 figures, so a comparison across them mixes time periods. It is not a like-for-like contest. In the period-matched 2015–2019 comparison, Bolotana’s estimates were lower than the original Blue Zone’s for both sexes. The authors treat all such comparisons as descriptive, so none of them should be read as showing that Bolotana outranks the older benchmark.
The birth-cohort record
A separate indicator uses historical records. The paper reports that 38 of 3,060 people born in Bolotana between 1900 and 1925 were documented to have reached age 100. That corresponds to an Extreme Longevity Index of 1,242 centenarians per 100,000 live births (exact 95% CI 880–1,701).
This is a different kind of measure. It follows a birth cohort from birth, so it includes deaths in early life, and it cannot be compared directly with the period life-table estimates for people already aged 70. Its value is that the ages in the record could be checked against municipal and baptismal documents, which the study’s authors say matters for the very old.
What the study does not establish about causes
The demographic analysis does not test why Bolotana’s women may have this survival profile. The authors state that causal mechanisms lie outside its scope. They list several plausible contributors that individual-level studies could examine later:
- Genetic background
- Dietary patterns
- Physical activity
- Family support and social cohesion
- Continuity of residence
- Access to care
These are hypotheses. The data do not demonstrate any of them. The secondary report by Peter Dockrill in ScienceAlert (8 October 2026) describes a close-knit community and walking as common forms of movement, attributing these observations to S. Jay Olshansky. They are descriptive remarks in that report, not measured findings of the study.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What the researchers say
Three quotations circulate from the study team. Each should be read in its context.
- S. Jay Olshansky, epidemiologist and co-author: “We think this is the longest-lived female population in the world, or close to it.” The paper’s own designation is still “candidate longevity blue zone.” The quote is an expert’s view and not a settled global ranking.
- Dan Buettner, co-author: “We now know something extraordinary is happening in Bolotana.” Buettner says the next step is to understand why, and whether any lessons could apply elsewhere. He is the founder of Blue Zones, Inc., which matters when weighing his comments.
- S. Jay Olshansky on records, as quoted in the secondary report: “What makes Bolotana extraordinary is that it has an incredible historical record that allows us to definitively evaluate ages at birth and death.” The report also quotes him saying the municipal and baptismal records “allowed us to independently verify ages.” These are interview remarks, not wording from the paper itself.
How to read longevity comparisons like this one
Most confusion in headlines about “longest-lived” places comes from mixing indicators or periods. Before comparing any two figures, check that they match on:
- Sex: the study’s headline figures are for women only.
- Calendar period: 2021–2025 and 2015–2019 produce very different survival figures for the same village.
- Indicator: remaining life expectancy at 70 is not the same as survival from 70 to 100, and the birth-cohort index measures something else again.
- Reference population: a regional or national mean is not an equivalent sample, and the study labels its comparisons as descriptive.
- Uncertainty: the intervals are wide for the oldest-age measures, so small differences are not meaningful.
Read this way, the study is a credible, carefully qualified finding that Bolotana merits further demographic work. It is not yet a ranking of villages, and it does not identify a way of living that others could copy.
Sources
- Giovanni Mario Pes and co-authors, “A new blue zone? exceptional late-life survival in Bolotana, Sardinia,” Frontiers in Aging, published 5 October 2026.
- Peter Dockrill, “Scientists Identify a Small Village in Italy Where Women Live Exceptionally Long Lives,” ScienceAlert, 8 October 2026.
The study’s figures are period estimates from a small population, so they should be cited with their year range, sex and interval, as shown above.
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