Blue Zone

Blue Zone is a concept used to identify a demographic and/or geographic area of the world where people live measurably longer lives, as described in Dan Buettner's book, "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer from people who lived the longest." The concept grew out of demographic work done by Gianni Pes and Michel Poulain, who identified Sardinia's Nuoro province as the region with the highest concentration of male centenarians. As the two men zeroed in on the cluster of villages with the highest longevity, they drew concentric blue circles on the map and began referring to the area inside the circle as the Blue Zone. Buettner identifies longevity hotspots in Okinawa, Japan; Sardinia, Italy; Nicoya, Costa Rica; Icaria, Greece; and among the Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, California, and offers an explanation, based on empirical data and first hand observations, as to why these populations live healthier and longer lives.

Blue Zones is also a company founded by Dan Buettner that uses evidence-based practices of groups and cultures from around the world to help people live longer, healthier and better lives, and offers educational and information resources, community health programs, foods and food services, real estate developments and consumer goods.