In 2023/24, the organ donation rate in Northern Ireland was 33.5 per million population, the highest rate in the United Kingdom. With 20.9 organ donations per million population, England had the second-highest rate. Wales had the lowest rate of the countries of the UK. Most common organs donated The most common organ offered for donation in the UK were kidneys, at over 3.4 thousand offers in 2021/22. The second most common organ offer in this year were the lungs with approximately 1.7 thousand offerings. This corresponded into the kidney having the highest rate of organ transplants in the UK (both from alive and deceased donors) at 37.8 procedures per million population. Not all organs can be used In 2017, over 35 percent of families in the UK refused permission for organs from their deceased family member to be used for donation. This was one of the highest refusal rates in Europe. Additionally. there is cases of organs that have been donated that cannot be used for various reasons. For example, in 2021/22 over 30 kidneys donated in the UK could not be used as they were deemed clinically unsuitable for organ donation.

In 2023/24, over 3.7 thousand organ transplants took place in the United Kingdom. The number of organ donors had increased year-on-year between 2014/15 and 2018/19, although numbers dropped in the subsequent COVID pandemic affected years. Type of organs donated The majority of transplants in the UK were kidney transplants, with over 2.4 thousand transplants of this kind carried out. A further 854 were liver transplants, followed by 237 heart transplants. The rate of organ donations in the United Kingdom amounted to 65 per million population in 2022. Transplant waiting list in the UK There were 5,898 patients on the active transplant list in the United Kingdom waiting for a kidney transplant as of March 2024. The number of individuals waiting for a kidney transplant was drastically higher than the number of patients waiting for any other organ in the country. Those waiting for a liver transplant had the second-highest number of active patients at 639, followed by 297 waiting for a kidney and pancreas transplant.

This statistic displays the distribution of organ donors in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023/24, by gender and donation type. Donations after brain death were split somewhat evenly across men and women, while 68 percent of donations after a cardiac death came from men and 32 percent came from women.

In 2023/24, 42 percent of the population in the United Kingdom had ‘opted-in’ to the NHS organ donation register, which amounts to over 28 million people registered. This means that the individuals allow their organs to be donated after their death. The share of people registered has been increasing since 2009. Deceased transplant activity in the UK The number of deceased organ donors in the UK has increased alongside the rise in the opt-in registrations. In 2023/24, approximately 3.7 thousand deceased donor transplants took place in the UK, compared to around 2.6 thousand in 2009/10. Around 20.6 deceased organ transplants per million population (pmp) in the UK in 2022. Spain had the highest rate of organ donation after death with 46.7 pmp. Rate of transplants in the UK The overall rate of transplants in the UK was 65 transplants per million people in 2022, this was the tenth-highest transplant rate in Europe. Although as of March 2024, there were still almost 7.5 thousand patients on the organ transplant waiting list in the UK, 5.9 thousand of which were waiting for a kidney transplant.

In 2023, Spain had the highest rate of deceased donors in Europe. The rate of organ donation, including donation after brain death (DBD) and after cardiac death (DCD), was 49.4 per million population. Portugal had the second highest rate of deceased organ donation in Europe after increasing to a rate of 36.8 per million population. Sweden experienced the largest increase in the rate of organ donation between 2021 and 2022, going from 10.2 to 25.2 donors per million population. Waiting times for organs Among the Eurotransplant community (composed of Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Slovenia) over 1.2 thousand individuals died while on the transplant waiting list in 2022. Almost half of those that died on the list were waiting for a kidney, followed by around a quarter waiting for a liver. Situation in the UK In the period 2021/22, over 3.4 thousand organ donations were carried out in the UK, this figure had generally increased prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. There were over 6.2 thousand patients on the transplant waiting list in the UK in 2022, indicating that although the number of transplants is increasing, the amount is still not enough to match the demand for organs.

This statistic displays the distribution of organ donors in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023/24, by age. The organ donation rate was highest amongst individuals aged between 18 and 49 years at 35 percent, followed by those aged 60 to 69 years and 50 to 59 years which had 25 and 24 percent of donors in this year, respectively.

This statistic displays the share of organ donors in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023/24, by cause of death. The majority of deceased organ donors, 87 percent, died from intracranial trauma in that last year in the UK.

In March 2024, there were 7,484 patients active on the transplant waiting list in the United Kingdom, the highest number in the given period. Since 2010, the number of patients waiting for a transplant were decreasing probably since the number of transplants have generally increased over the same time period. What organs are required? Almost 5.9 thousand of the 7,484 patients on the active transplant list in the UK were waiting for a kidney transplant. The number of individuals waiting for a kidney transplant dwarfed the number of patients waiting for any other organ in the country. Those waiting for a liver transplant had the second-highest number of active patients at 639, followed by 297 waiting for a kidney and pancreas transplant.  Transplant activity in the UK In the financial year 2023/24, 2,448 kidney transplants took place in the UK. In 2022, the rate of kidney transplant was 37.8 transplants per million population, the highest rate of any organ transplantation in that year. Liver transplants had a rate of 13.5 transplants per million and then heart transplants followed with a rate of 2.9 per million population. 

This statistic displays the number of individuals on the NHS organ donor register in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2006 to 2024. The number of individuals on the register has increased over the time period to approximately 28.1 million in 2024.

This statistic displays the number of organ transplant donations after brain death performed in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023/24. In this year, there were 1,175 kidney transplant donations after a brain death in the UK.

This statistic displays the number of living donors in the United Kingdom (UK) from 2005/06 to 2023/24. Over the time-period observed, the number of living donors peaked in 2013/14 at 1,150 donors. Subsequently, the number of living donors fell in the following years, reaching 938 in 2023/24.

In 2022, Spain had the highest rate of deceased organ donors among select OECD countries with 47 people per million population. Organ donation is an important life-saving method for people with organ failure and late-stage disease.

Organ Donation

Organs can be donated from either living or deceased persons depending on the type and supply of select organs. Each country is responsible for organizing its own organ transplant systems. In the United States, for example, organ donors are required to register to a national database. A lack of organs available for transplant remains a problem in many countries aorund the world. In the United States, there are over 100 thousand people currently waiting for an organ transplant.

Global organ donations

The total number of transplants performed each year has been on the rise. Organ donations globally reached over 144 thousand in the year 2021, with kidneys accounting for a majority of the organs transplanted. The Americas and Europe make up the largest proportion of global kidney transplants, while Africa has the lowest number. The Americans and Europe also have the highest proportions of global liver transplants.

This statistic displays the distribution of organ donors in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023/24, by body mass index (BMI). The majority of organ donors (65 percent) had a body mass index between 20 and 29. A BMI between 20 and 29 is considered normal.

This statistic displays the potential and actual number of organ donors following death in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023/24. In this year, the number of potential donors recorded at 6,794 was significantly higher than the number of actual donors at 1,510.

In 2023/24, 2,102 of the total 2,448 kidney transplant procedures in the United Kingdom were carried out on patients living in England. This was followed by 172 transplants in Scotland, while there were 50 and 102 procedures in Northern Ireland and Wales respectively. Still not enough to meet demand? At the end of the period 2023/24 there were still over six thousand patients on the kidney transplant waiting list in the UK, 5.4 thousand of which were in England. Additionally, in this year, around 265 patients died in the UK while on the organ transplant list, most of which were waiting for a kidney European comparisons The UK has a relatively high rate of kidney transplants compared to most European Union nations. With a rate of 46.6 kidney transplants per million population in 2022. This was the sixth-highest in Europe.

In 2023/24 in the United Kingdom, the most common procedure from a deceased donor was a kidney transplant with over 2.3 thousand. Furthermore, 844 liver or liver lobe transplants came from deceased donors.

This statistic displays the share of organ donors in the United Kingdom (UK) in 2023/24, by ethnicity. The majority of organ donors in the UK (94 percent) were from a white ethnic background in this year.

This statistic displays the number of deceased organ donations in the United Kingdom (UK) between April 2023 and March 2024, by region. The largest number of deceased organ donations were from the organ donation services team in the Midlands with 172 donations.

In 2023/24, 265 patients died on the organ transplant waiting list while waiting for a kidney transplant in the United Kingdom (UK), by far the highest number compared to other organs. In this period, 67 and 42 people also died waiting for liver and lung transplants respectively. Transplant situation in the UK The number of people waiting for a kidney transplant in the UK was over 5.3 thousand in 2023, which was the highest for any organ by quite a distance. This was followed by individuals waiting for liver transplants and heart transplants with 663 and 305 patients each respectively. The problem exists is that in 2022/23 the number of potential donors was over four times the number of actual donors in the UK. Survival chances after a transplant In the UK, the one-year survival rate after a kidney transplant is generally good. Since 2005, 99 percent of those receiving a kidney transplant from a living donor survived for at least one-year post-transplant. The survival rates from deceased donors are slightly below, sitting at a 97 percent survival rate for the period 2014 to 2019.

In 2023/24, 237 heart transplants were performed in the United Kingdom, not including heart-lung transplants. The bulk of heart transplants in this year took place in England at 180 procedures. Scotland had 33 heart transplants performed, followed by Wales with ten procedures and eight in Northern Ireland. The heart transplant waiting list At the end of the period 2023/24, there were still 289 patients on the heart transplant waiting list in the UK, 231 of which were in England. Additionally, in this year, 13 patients died in the UK while on the organ transplant list waiting for a heart, while another two died while requiring a heart-lung transplant. Not all hearts that are offered for donation can be used. For example, in this year, 572 hearts were not used for organ donation because the donor was too old. Activity compared to the rest of Europe The UK has a relatively low rate of heart transplants compared to other European Union nations. With a rate of 2.9 heart transplants per million population in 2022, this was ranked as the 21st highest in Europe. Slovenia had the highest heart transplant rate in 2022 with 13.8 procedures per million.