Editing Ryukyuans (section)

==Demography==
{{see also|Longevity in Okinawa|Okinawa diet}}
Ryukyuans tend to see themselves as bound together by their home island and, especially among older Ryukyuans, usually consider themselves from [[Okinawa Prefecture|Okinawa]] first and [[Japan]] second.{{sfn|Kerr|2000|p=454}}<ref>Smits, Gregory. ''Visions of Ryukyu''. University of Hawai'i Press. 1999. pp. 1–3.</ref><ref>Glacken, Clarence. "The Great Loochoo: A Study of Okinawan Village Life". University of California Press. 1955. pp. 299–302.</ref> The average annual income per resident of Okinawa in 2006 was ¥2.09 million, placing the prefecture at the bottom of the list of 47.<ref name="MasamiIto2009"/>

The Okinawans have a very low age-adjusted mortality rate at older ages and among the lowest prevalence of cardiovascular disease and other age-associated diseases in the world. Furthermore, Okinawa has long had the highest life expectancy at older ages, as well has had among the highest prevalence of [[centenarian]]s among the 47 Japanese prefectures, also the world, since records began to be kept by the Ministry of Health in the early 1960s despite the high birth rate and expanding population of Okinawa prefecture. This longevity phenotype has been in existence since records have been kept in Japan, and despite the well-known dietary and other nongenetic lifestyle advantages of the Okinawans ([[Blue Zone]]),<ref>Santrock, John (2008). "Physical Development and Biological Aging". In Mike Ryan, Michael J. Sugarman, Maureen Spada, and Emily Pecora (eds.): ''A Topical Approach to Life-Span Development'' (pp. 129–132). New York: McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.</ref> there may be some additional unknown genetic influence favoring this extreme phenotype. The [[Okinawa Centenarian Study]] (OCS) research team began to work in 1976, making it the world's longest ongoing population-based study of centenarians.<ref name="Gerontology2014"/>