Longevity, the red thread linking the stories of centenarians between nutrition, sociality and lifestyles

Citizens who, on the same date, were at least 110 years old (supercentenarians) number 19, two fewer than the previous year. Confirming the greater female longevity, only one of them is male'.

Until October 2025, the living doyenne of Italy is, for the second year in a row, a man residing in Basilicata who has passed the age of 111; among women, the doyenne of Italy, resides in Campania and in a few days will blow out 115 candles.

Studying and exploring the topic of active ageing is the World Community of Longevity. "In an era dominated by intervention medicine and the search for paid 'anti-ageing cures', the real secret of a long, healthy and fully functioning life is revealed to us not by laboratories, but by the folk wisdom of specific communities all over the world," says Roberto Pili, medical oncologist and president of the World Community of Longevity: the Blue Zones. These territories, from Okinawa to the Sardinian Barbagie, represent real natural laboratories of longevity, where active centenarianism is not a genetic anomaly, but the result of deeply rooted, co-evolutionary and sustainable lifestyles'. In this regard, Pili and the working group with which he carries out the research, adds that the analysis carried out 'aims to go beyond the simple listing of these places in order to extract the common matrix that binds their diets, their social ties and their psychological set-up'. The common thread linking the different stories of the centenarians runs through similar lifestyles in which diet goes hand in hand with being a community or having 'a faith'.

In Spain, too, the ageing of the population is taking on increasingly marked contours, with dynamics that closely resemble the Italian picture, especially in terms of regional differences. Life expectancy increased significantly during the 20th century and the trend, according to demographic indicators, is set to continue into the 21st century.

The average age of the Spanish population has reached 44.2 years (INE data), while the number of over-80s and centenarians is steadily increasing, with a clear predominance of women. According to the study 'Movimiento Natural de la Población / Indicadores Demográficos Básicos' by the National Institute of Statistics (INE), life expectancy at birth has risen to 81.11 years for men (+0.75) and to 86.34 years for women (+0.60), exceeding this threshold for the first time.

As of 1 January 2025, 17,038 people aged 100 years or older live in Spain. Of these, 13,968 are women and 3,070 men, a gap that confirms the greater longevity of women even in the older age groups. However, as in Italy, the distribution of the very old is not uniform across the territory.

The traditionally older communities - Galicia, Castilla y León, Asturias and Cantabria - have a higher proportion of over-90s and centenarians, often concentrated in rural areas marked by depopulation. On the contrary, younger and more migratory regions, such as Madrid and Catalonia, show a more balanced demographic profile. It is no coincidence that Castile and Leon has become an emblematic case study: the ageing electorate and the outflow of young people are redefining the social and economic fabric of entire provinces.

'Despite their geographical and cultural diversity, these areas share some common traits ranging from healthy environments,' argues Pili, 'to diets that respect physiology and the laws of nature. And then, last but not least, 'physical activity and movement as an integral part of daily activities, and work and strong social ties, cultivating spiritual health through meditation, prayer, reflection, religious practice or other forms of soul-searching that can give a sense of purpose to life'.

*This article is part of the European collaborative journalism project "Pulse"