Okinawa
Leading cause: Cancer · 94% plant-based · 87.4 yr life expectancy · UHC 86/100
What People Eat
Home of the longest-lived women on Earth. 96% plant-based diet — sweet potatoes provide 69% of calories.
Disease Burden
Leading cause of death: Cancer · 95 / 100k
Bars show each rate against the global range; the tick marks the world median.
Okinawa's mortality profile is dominated by cancer and respiratory disease rather than the cardiovascular disease that drives most wealthy nations, heart disease (28/100k) is roughly a sixth of the US rate. This is the classic longevity signature: deaths shift to very old age and to causes only loosely tied to diet. Healthcare figures reflect Japan; the diet shown is the traditional Okinawan pattern documented by the Centenarian Study.
Healthcare System
Sources: WHO UHC Service Coverage Index (SDG 3.8.1) & WHO Global Health Expenditure Database. Latest available year.
What Could Improve
- Protect the traditional sweet-potato-and-vegetable diet from the processed-food and Western fast-food creep already eroding it in younger Okinawans.
- Maintain the cultural strengths that compound the diet, strong social ties (moai), daily movement, and calorie moderation (hara hachi bu).
Explore the evidence: Cancer
Okinawa Centenarian Study · Willcox et al., 2007 · > 900 centenarians studied
→ 50+ centenarians per 100k · 5× US rate