2023: Organ donors save record number of lives
The lifesaving gift of organ donation allowed tens of thousands of recipients to truly live again
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2023 in brief:
- More than 46,000 organ transplants
- More than 27,000 kidney transplants
- More than 16,000 deceased organ donors
- More than 10,000 Black transplant recipients
- More than 10,000 liver transplants
- More than 6,900 living organ donors
- More than 4,000 heart transplants
- More than 3,000 lung transplants
Read the stories of lives changed
Read the press release
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2022
A year of livesaving milestones
In 2022, more than 42,800 organ transplants were performed, again setting annual record. Total kidney transplants exceeded 25,000 for the first year ever. And the U.S. surpassed 1 million transplants. Read the 2022 news release
2021
All-time records again set in 2021 for organ transplants, organ donation from deceased donors
In 2021, 41,354 organ transplants were performed in the United States, an increase of 5.9 percent over 2020 and the first time the annual total exceeded 40,000. Read the 2021 news release
2020
Annual record trend continues for deceased organ donation, deceased donor transplants
Despite a 50% drop in deceased donor transplantation early in the pandemic, the U.S. system proved its strength and resilience by recovering quickly and continuing to outperform itself. Read the 2020 news release
2019
Organ donation again sets record
Nearly 11,900 people provided the lifesaving gift of organ donation upon their death last year, making 2019 the ninth consecutive record-breaking year for deceased donation in the United States. Read the 2019 news release
Continuous improvement
As good as the U.S. organ transplantation system is, it needs to be even better to be able to serve the more than 100,000 people waiting for organs at any given time. UNOS is committed to driving continuous improvement to serve those patients and promote an ongoing increase in organ donation and transplants.
Resources
- Learn more about how the national organ donation and transplant system works.
- Explore data reports and dashboards.
“We can do better, we must do better, and we will do better.”
Maureen McBride, Ph.D., UNOS CEO
Action Agenda
Actions to strengthen the U.S. organ donation and transplant system